Former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor's transition from college to professional football may not be as seamless as he had hoped.
After being embroiled in a memorabilia scandal at Ohio State, Pryor chose to leave school early and enter the NFL through the supplemental draft, but FOXSports.com's Alex Marvez reports that the league may not allow the quarterback to enter this year's supplemental draft.
"[The supplemental draft] is for players whose circumstances have changed in an unforeseen way after the regular draft," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told FOXSports.com. "It is not a mechanism for simply bypassing the regular [draft]."
Such unforeseen circumstances include being declared academically ineligible, being dismissed from a college team or graduating, Aiello explained, and Pryor fits none of that criteria. Although Pryor would have been suspended for the first five games of this season for his role in the memorabilia scandal had he stayed at Ohio State, he was still a member of the team when he decided to leave school.
The NFL employs such criteria for its supplemental draft to prevent players from avoiding the primary draft in order to be chosen by a certain team. Marvez cites the case of quarterback Bernie Kosar entering the 1985 supplemental draft in order to sign with the Browns rather than the Vikings as the prime example of this.
Pryor's case will be reviewed by Joel Bussert, the NFL's vice president of player personnel/football operations, and the ruling will likely affect the quarterback's future drastically.
Since he has already signed with an agent, Pryor is now ineligible to return to college football. If Bussert does not approve his petition to enter the supplemental draft, Pryor's only option to play would be in a different professional league, such as the Canadian Football League (CFL) or the United Football League (UFL).
The date for the NFL's supplemental draft has not yet been set.
