DaytonDailyNews.com

COLUMBUS — When he signed his letter of intent with Ohio State on March 19, Terrelle Pryor was praised as the Buckeyes' quarterback of the future.

The future, apparently, is now.

Pryor will not attend his first college class until Wednesday, Sept. 24, but he is the flavor of the week for coach Jim Tressel in the Buckeyes' surprising quarterback derby.

In the wake of the Buckeyes' 35-3 deconstruction at the hands of top-ranked Southern California last weekend, Tressel came away impressed with Pryor and down on fifth-year senior and second-year starter Todd Boeckman.

He said during preparation for Saturday's game against Troy that Pryor would get most of the snaps with the top offensive unit in practice this week. Boeckman, 14-3 as a starter, is suddenly an afterthought. Joe Bauserman, listed as the backup just two weeks ago, doesn't even figure into the coaches' plans.

Pryor and Boeckman are likely to split duties about evenly against Troy, the second consecutive set of Trojans the Buckeyes have played. Tressel said he did not know who would start.

"It's been about 60-40 with Terrelle getting about 60 percent of the reps," Tressel said Thursday. "As we go into the game after we review today's practice, I think we're still in the thought process that it'll be about equal. ... Both of them are doing pretty good."

Tressel gushed over Pryor's play against USC. In 25 plays, Pryor completed 7-of-9 passes for 52 yards and ran for 40 yards. The Buckeyes averaged 5.1 yards per play when he was under center. Boeckman started and played almost all the difficult downs — when the Trojans knew the Buckeyes had to pass — and completed 14-of-21 passes for 84 yards with two interceptions and one fumble.

"Terrelle has progressed with the lack of snaps in practice and the game more than you think he would," Tressel said earlier this week. "I've seen a freshman get kind of thrown into the fire and grow every practice and grow every game."

The coaching staff sat down with Pryor, the 6-foot-6 Pennsylvania prep star who chose Ohio State over Michigan, Penn State and several other major programs, to tell him what was expected of him this week.

"Our expectations above all others are these: you make big plays, you make great decisions, you don't turn the ball over, and that's how you'll be evaluated above all other things," Tressel said. "We're going to evaluate your footwork, how you carry out your fakes, we're going to evaluate every little thing. But not like we'll evaluate what we call those 'big three.' "

Terrelle Pryor's 2008 OSU stats

Passing
Opponent	Att.	Comp.	Int.	Pct.	Yards	TD
Youngstown St.	6	4	0	.667	35	0
Ohio	2	0	0	.000	0	0
USC	9	7	0	.778	52	0
Total	17	11	0	.647	87	0
Rushing
Opponent	Att.	Net Yards	TD
Youngstown St.	9	52	1
Ohio	5	37	0
USC	11	40	0
Total	25	129	1