By: Todd Porter (Canton Repository) —
COLUMBUS No one doubted that Terrelle Pryor passed the eye test. Now he’s passed the film test.

Pryor, the big freshman with the bigger reputation, is Ohio State’s starting quarterback, with no qualifiers attached.

“I would call Terrelle the starting quarterback,” Tressel told The Repository. “I don’t know that that means 95 percent of the snaps or 65 percent, or whatever. But I would consider him that.”

The Buckeye offense is different than the one that started the season. Pryor will be at quarterback, Michael Brewster, another highly touted recruit, will be at center, and All-Big Ten running back Chris “Beanie” Wells is likely to be back Saturday when OSU opens the Big Ten season against Minnesota.

Pryor started Ohio State’s win against Troy on Saturday. Tressel determined he would become the first freshman quarterback to start at Ohio State in 30 years so long as Troy didn’t pin the Buckeyes inside the 5-yard line.

That means that fifth-year senior Todd Boeckman, who’s actually been around the program close to six years, will watch from the sidelines and get into games in situations.

OSU is preparing Pryor to take the bulk of the snaps against Minnesota. Tressel doesn’t have a fine line to walk by replacing a starting senior because Boeckman has handled the demotion with class.

“The best thing about Todd is No. 1, he prefaces everything with he wants to win,” Tressel said. “No. 2, he wants to do all he can do, and he’d love to do more on the field. If he felt any other way, I’d be nervous.

“That’s the beauty of having good people in the program. It starts with Todd. Todd embraced Terrelle the day he walked on campus. … As everyone else looks on and sees how Todd is handling a difficult situation — let’s face it, as a senior, we would not like see our playing time diminish — but the fact he’s handled it so well has given the right message to anyone else who wants to conjure up thoughts in their mind on the subject.”

With OSU’s offensive line struggling, Pryor’s ability to turn broken protection into positive yards gives the Buckeyes their best chance to move the football. Against Troy, Pryor’s presence made a difference in the red zone.

In the three previous games, the Buckeyes converted just 3-of-10 red zone possessions into touchdowns. Against Troy, OSU was 2-for-2.

“From a knowledge standpoint, he’s further along than I’ve ever seen a freshman quarterback,” Tressel said. “Then you add the dimension of what he can do with his feet, maybe it makes up a little bit for when you’re a little shorthanded at running back compared to what you thought you were going to be. … What’s important is we do what we think is the best thing that can help us at the moment.”

Getting Wells back in the mix adds another dimension to the offense. He injured his right foot in the opener against Youngstown State. The Buckeyes running game has been inconsistent without Wells.

“I expect him to play unless we take a step backward this week,” Tressel said. “If the game were (Monday), he could have given us limited duty because he has not practiced much the last week or so.

“It adds to your arsenal. … I know this, I was encouraged at how he looked and how he said he felt.”

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