Former Ohio St. Buckeyes quarterback Terrelle Pryor had to cut his college career short after being punished by the NCAA for his role in the pants-for-tats to-do that eventually cost Jim Tressel his job. Now a member of the Oakland Raiders, he revealed his version of the whole thing in an interview with SI.com's Jim Trotter:
Terrelle Pryor Explains His Side Of NCAA Violations Story
The reason why I did it was to pay my mother’s gas bill and some of her rent. She was four months behind in rent, and the (landlord) was so nice because he was an Ohio State fan. He gave her the benefit of the doubt and she said, ‘My son will pay you back sometime if you just let me pay you back during my work sessions.’ She ended up losing her job, and she and my sister lived there. Let me remind you it was freezing cold in November, December, and she’s using the oven as heat. That’s what I did as a kid. I was telling the NCAA, ‘Please, anything that you can do. I gave my mother this so my sister wouldn’t be cold, so my mother wouldn’t be cold.’ They didn’t have any sympathy for me. It’s not like I went there and bought new Jordans. It’s documented. Whenever I write my book the proof will be in there, the receipt that the money I gave my mother was to pay the electric and heat bill. The truth is going to come out one day when the time is right. I don’t think I deserved (being punished) in that way, because of the reason I was doing it. I felt like I was doing God’s work in a way, and I was getting driven into the ground.
No mention of tattoos in here, which Pryor alleged all along that he’d paid for. Some would also wonder again where Pryor got all those cars he was seen cycling through even as the scandal picked up. But, yep, that’s his side of the story.
For more on Buckeyes football, visit Ohio State blog Land-Grant Holy Land, plus Big Ten blog Off Tackle Empire and SB Nation Cleveland.
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