With quarterback Terrelle Pryor leaving Ohio State and attempting to enter the supplemental draft, the good news for football fans is that we’ll be treated to an unexpected edition of Jon Gruden’s QB Camp on ESPN.
The hour-long special will air on Thursday, June 30, at 9:00 p.m. ET, which also happens to be the day on which I predict a labor deal will be announced. (I’m fully prepared to deal with the fallout of being wrong. But I’ve still got nine days to be right.)
The session occurred on Monday, June 20. Starting Monday, July 27, ESPN will begin to broadcast excerpts of the show.
While it will once again be must-see TV for football fans, no one expects Gruden to be all that tough on Pryor. As Peter King of Sports Illustrated and NBC said via Twitter, “I will watch Gruden with Pryor, but the danger of making these guys all look [and] sound like Unitas is we’ll never find out who [Gruden] really likes.”
Although Gruden was, in a roundabout way, aggressive in his questioning of Cam Newton’s ability to grasp an NFL offense, Gruden publicly declared thereafter that Newton will have no troubles when it comes to learning how to read a playbook and call plays. Thus, look for Gruden to find a way to put a positive spin on Pryor’s quarterbacking talents, which will make Pryor happy . . . and which will make future quarterbacks more inclined to agree to step into the glare of the Gruden spotlight.
As to whom Gruden really likes, we think we know the answer.
Everyone. He really likes everyone.