Could Terrelle Pryor’s NCAA violations be related to OSU gear thefts last year?

COLUMBUS — On Tuesday ESPN.com published an article on their website that said Terrelle Pryor made thousands of dollars, as high as $40,000 the article said, during the 2009-10 season. The ESPN piece is based on an interview with a former friend of Pryor’s who says he witnessed the transactions.

The former friend, who asked ESPN not to identify him, said Pryor was paid for signing helmets and other gear for a Columbus businessman and freelance photographer, Dennis Talbott. ESPN has said that Talbott has twice denied that he ever paid Pryor or any other active Buckeyes athlete to sign memorabilia or other items. Talbot has said he has only worked with former players, once have lost eligibility to set up signings.

According to SportsByBrooks, sometime during the 2010 football season, Ohio State officials asked Talbott to completely disassociate himself from the program.

On Tuesday, Talbot had approximately 250 items for sale on ebay under the user name “infickellwetrust” which was recently changed from “intresselwetrust”. Among those items for sale were several Ohio State signed items from former player and one Pryor signed mini-helmet. The starting price for the helmet was $89.99. As of this morning, all the items Talbot had listed for sale on ebay have been removed. In the past Talbot has sold at least 3 Pryor signed items. A search of his ebay feedback show the sale of three signed helmets, one full size and two mini, for a total of $287.99.

The ESPN article noted that a search of public records reveals a series of liens and financial judgments against Talbot, including an Internal Revenue Service lien filed in 2009 for $278,875 in unpaid federal taxes and a state of Ohio tax lien in 2010 for $74,227.

Now some are wondering if these latest revelations have any connection to the left of gear last year at Ohio State.

On November 19 the university officials said that someone had stolen several items from the Buckeye locker room. The theft happened after the previous week’s match up against Penn State in Columbus. Ohio State said that 10 pairs of shoes were stolen, including four pairs belonging to Pryor, while others belonged to Daniel Herron, Cameron Heyward, Chimdi Checkwa and Devier Posey.

OSU said at the time that they felt that it was likely an inside job and sites like ebay and Craiglist, as well a local memorabilia shops would be monitored to see if any show up . It is unknown at this time if any of the shoes were ever recovered.

Now toss in the Sports Illustrated article where “Ellis” (SI’s confidential source) says:

Pryor alone brought in more than 20 items, including game-worn shoulder pads, multiple helmets, Nike cleats, jerseys, game pants and more. One day Ellis asked Pryor how he was able to take so much gear from the university’s equipment room. Ellis says the quarterback responded, “I get whatever I want.”

And finally mix in a little more of the ESPN piece:

[The Former Friend] said Pryor would get the merchandise to sign from Talbott, who would ‘bring it to TP, and he would sign it and he would bring him cash…’ He said he witnessed the transactions occur about three to four times a week at Pryor’s apartment.

NOTE: Just as the some of the others who are wondering the same thing, BuckeyeCountry.net is in no way accusing Pryor or Talbot of any thefts at all. BuckeyeCountry.net is simply pointing out an interesting comparative of the current circumstances and known public information.