Evan Pryor Expected To Miss Season With Knee Injury
Ohio State second-year running back Evan Pryor is expected to be out for the season after suffering a knee injury, according to several reports and first reported by Rivals’ Austin Ward.
Along with third-year back Miyan Williams, Pryor was set to back up incumbent starter TreVeyon Henderson this season. Pryor rushed 21 times for 98 yards last season, including a 12-yard rushing touchdown against Akron in the first game of his career.
With Master Teague III off to the NFL and Marcus Crowley medically retiring in the spring, Pryor was set for an expanded role this season and had a positive spring and fall camp to help build toward that.
“I feel like I’ve paid my dues. I feel like I’m still paying my dues in a way. I had a good spring, but I’m still kind of young around here, about to go into to my actual freshman season,” Pryor said during camp. “There are some older guys who have been trying me sometimes, but it’s good. It’s all competition. I love the guys.”
With Pryor on the mend, Ohio State and running backs coach Tony Alford will look to true freshman running back Dallan Hayden, who has impressed thus far in fall camp.
“Dallan goes 100 miles an hour, so the biggest thing we’ve got to figure out is to get him to kind of slow down and take a deep breath,” Alford said. “He’s very hard on himself. He’s the guy that you can tell he wants to do things perfectly, and that bothers him immensely if he doesn’t. He’s going to be a really good player. I think he’s got a chance to be a really good person.”
Before Pryor’s injury, Alford stressed how important depth was at running back and how integral Hayden’s inclusion was in Ohio State’s most recent recruiting class.
“At running back you need depth,” Alford said. “You have to have depth. I mean, you’ve seen games where a couple guys in one game that go down, so you’ve got to have depth. (Hayden) was critically important (in the class).”