A tale of two QBs: All eyes on OSU's Pryor, Miami's Harris

COLUMBUS — Call it Round One of the Heisman Trophy elimination battle. Call it the battle of the stud quarterbacks. Call it king-on-the-mountain, college football style.

When No. 2 Ohio State faces No. 12 Miami in the Horseshoe Saturday afternoon, it's the Buckeyes against the Hurricanes, and Terrelle Pryor against Jacory Harris. Even though the two junior quarterbacks won't be on the field at the same time, they will be the kings on the 100-yard chess board.

Pryor (6-6, 233) is the former national high school player of the year, Rose Bowl MVP, and the Big Ten's preseason offensive player of the year. He is 20-3 as a starter and was Ohio State's leading rusher last season with close to 800 yards.

Harris (6-4, 200), who was one of the top players in football rich South Florida when he came out of Miami's Northwestern High School, threw for 3,352 yards last season. After just two years with the Hurricanes, he ranks in the top 10 all-time at Miami for pass completions, yards, touchdown passes, and total offense.

“I think they've traveled a similar road,” Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said about all of the expectations Pryor and Harris were saddled with when they came to college.

“They both got put in there at an early point in their freshman year ... and had to kind of get thrown in with an older group and learn their way to take control of the huddle and then show it through their execution that they belonged there.”

Both were very effective in their season openers last Thursday and in control throughout. Pryor went 17-of-25 for 247 yards and three touchdowns as the Buckeyes beat Marshall 45-7. Harris was 12-of-15 for 210 yards and three touchdowns in Miami's 45-0 win over Florida A&M.

“Like any young kids, you can tell both of them are very passionate, and both of them have tremendous big play ability,” Tressel said. “They love what they're doing. You can see they both prepare extremely hard.”

Ohio State defensive back Chimdi Chekwa, a senior from Clermont, Fla., said he expects Harris to look for the opportunity to hit the Buckeyes with the long ball.

“Jacory Harris is a quarterback who is going to throw the ball deep and go for the home run,” Chekwa said after his initial review of the Miami game film. “That's what I've seen and that's what I expect.”

Unlike Pryor, who has a number of designed runs in the Ohio State offense and is also a constant threat to take off when he breaks out of the pocket, Harris is much more likely to stay home and throw the ball. Pryor has 1,427 rushing yards in his 26 career games with the Buckeyes, while Harris has minus-121 rushing yards, also in 26 career games.

“He's a great quarterback, just like Terrelle, but I don't think they have the same style,” Chekwa said. “Terrelle is a guy who, if you give him an opportunity to run, he's going to take that opportunity and make you pay. Jacory is a guy who wants to sit back there and throw the pass.

“I don't think they're too similar, but they're both good quarterbacks.”

Tressel said that since he has been around Pryor so much over the past two-plus years, he feels more comfortable commenting on how his quarterback has progressed.

“The thing about him is he thinks about it so much and cares about it so much that he has an ongoing anticipation,” Tressel said. “I just see that growth every day ... but I think he's anxious about lining up and competing against a team he knows is very, very good and he's going to have to be at best if he's going to do his part for his team.”

Tressel shied away from any direct comparisons of the two quarterbacks, opting instead to conclude that both teams like their guy, and most every other program in the country would be thrilled to have either one in their huddle.

“I think there's a lot of teams in college football that would like to have [either of] those guys as their quarterback,” Tressel said.

Contact Matt Markey at:mmarkey@theblade.comor 419-724-6510.