By: Rusty Miller (Philly.com via AP) –

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Everywhere he goes, the eyes are on him.

He would stand out anywhere because he stands 6-foot-6, a willowy athlete’s body replete with tattoos. But in a city of more than 750,000 football-mad people, in a state that reveres its Buckeyes and particularly the guy who directs the Ohio State offense, no one takes their eyes off Terrelle Pryor.

When he goes out, he wears dark sunglasses to avoid the swarms of Buckeyes fans.

“I try it but it doesn’t work,” he said.

During the team’s recent open scrimmage at Ohio Stadium, several thousand fans showed up. There wasn’t much question about who they came to see. The flashbulbs fired every time Pryor took a snap, made a run or threw a pass.

Pryor has become accustomed to the attention. He fed off of it as the nation’s No. 1 quarterback recruit out of Jeannette, Pa. He dealt with it last year when he took over as Ohio State’s starting quarterback four games into what would be a 10-3 season, including a share of a fourth consecutive Big Ten title and a third straight Bowl Championship Series appearance.

Now, as one of the few recognizable names on a talented but not well known sixth-ranked Buckeyes squad, Pryor is a rock star in shoulder pads.

“I think he accepts that,” offensive lineman Andrew Moses said. “If you’re a quarterback at a university like this you’re going to know that’s going to be a part of the deal. Terrelle just wants to be the best player he can be for his team. I don’t know if he’s really nervous about it. He doesn’t show it.”

A year ago, Pryor came to campus as the school’s most acclaimed quarterback recruit since Art Schlichter in 1979. He watched Todd Boeckman, a first-team All-Big Ten player who led the Buckeyes to the national championship game the season before, direct the offense for three games. But after the Buckeyes were throttled by Southern California 35-3, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel stunned many by benching the fifth-year senior starter and replacing him with Pryor, who had yet to attend his first day of college classes……

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