Troy Smith threw the ball 24 times per game during his Heisman Trophy season in 2005.
One of the most frequent questions from Ohio State fans is how much Jim Tressel will "open up" the offense now that quarterback Terrelle Pryor is entering his third year as a starter.
If "opening up" means passing more, Tressel might be ready to let it go quite a bit.
Once he took over as the starter in 2008, Pryor averaged 15 throws per game as a freshman. As a sophomore, he threw the ball about 23 times per game. At the Big Ten meetings today, Tressel said he thinks Pryor could throw the ball between 25 to 35 times per game as a junior. Troy Smith, for example, averaged 24 throws per game when he won the Heisman Trophy as a senior in 2005.
"I would bet he'll throw more than he did last season," Tressel said of Pryor. "Terrelle would probably throw a lot more than his sophomore year. It would be a bigger jump this year than it would be next year, because he's making that progression. I think he'll have a chance to do some things he loves doing, which is throwing the football."
Tressel's point is that at this time in his quarterback's career, between Pryor's second and third year as the starter, is when he expects the kind of greater understanding and comfort that would allow Tressel to change the approach. Tressel said he saw that between Smith's sophomore and junior year, when he was given more responsibility.
Terrelle Pryor could throw the ball a lot more for the Buckeyes this season.Monday, Tressel also said that when you have an experienced offense, you might be inclined to do some more basic things, because if you're good at the basics, you don't have to stretch and get overly creative. But the bottom line is that Tressel is about balance, and throwing after setting up the run has to be part of that.
"That's the kind of balance we hope to have," Tressel said after making that 25 to 35 throws estimate. "Hopefully he'll progress to being that third-year guy. Not every moment will look that way, and some people will jump all over the moment when it doesn't go well or jump all over the moment when it does and say, 'Oh my, he's gotten ever better, he should win the Heisman,' after two completions. We have to get incrementally better, and I think we'll do that."
In 23 games since taking over the starting job, Pryor has thrown 25 passes in a game seven times and has topped 30 throws just twice - when the Buckeyes were trying to come back against Purdue in their loss to the Boilermakers last October and in his breakout MVP performance in the Rose Bowl.