Why was Terrelle Pryor's lawsuit against Ohio State dismissed? Exploring latest verdict on ex-Buckeye's appeal against NCAA & Big Ten

Terrelle Pryor is a former quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes, who played for the program between 2008 and 2010. He returned to the media spotlight in 2025, but for different reasons.

Pryor attempted to sue Ohio State, the Big Ten Conference and the NCAA over lost income through NIL deals. It is worth noting that the NIL was not in effect during the years that Pryor was playing.

This was an era when any form of payment to a player (even ones that were not financial) could be penalized by the NCAA, resulting in postseason bans or even stripping teams of their championship.

According to his lawsuit, Pryor argued:

"He would have been one of the highest paid collegiate athletes in the country... and he was purposefully excluded from this waterfall of money for many years.”

On Friday, Pryor found out that his lawsuit was thrown out by Judge Sarah D Morrison, who wrote that:

"The claims against the defendants are untimely given the four-year statute of limitations for antitrust claims."

In simple terms, the case was thrown out as the events that Pyror would be claiming money for were many years ago.

Terrelle Pryor and the scandal that would not happen today

During his time with Ohio State, Pyror and members of the Buckeyes team did fall foul of the then rules banning the players from many any money in their name. In late 2010, Pyror and some of his teammates were suspended for four games due to selling merchandise and for gaining "improper benefits" (discounts) from a tattoo parlor.

This would eventually become a massive scandal for the program that would have even larger ramifications. Then, coach Jim Tressel resigned with the Buckeyes stripped of all of their wins from the 2010 season and banned from the postseason in 2012.

These scandals do not happen today. If Pyror were the current Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback, a NIL deal would be in place for him to earn money from his merchandise, and he could have made a similar deal with the tattoo parlor.

The decision to bring in the NIL in 2021 has forever changed college sports. Now, it has evolved again to essentially give players a salary for playing for the school (the exact terminology is still to be decided, with the debate even reaching President Trump's desk).

However, while not perfect, it has allowed players to earn money without a fear of damaging the entire program, something that Terrelle Pryor was unable to do.

Edited by Alvin Amansec