No one who follows Ohio State football recruiting will soon forget the saga that was Terrelle Pryor's recruitment in 2007 and 2008.

Pryor was easily one of the most sought-after prospects in the country and was thought of as possibly one of the very best high school players in the history of Western Pennsylvania. Pryor's decision was in question until signing day in February of 2008, but fans and media would not learn his destination that day as he announced that he would be taking more time to make a decision.

For much of that winter, Pryor seemed to be focused on Ohio State, Michigan, and Oregon. But home state school Penn State made a late run at him, and some people speculated that the Nittany Lions were making a hard push to come from behind and snag Pryor's signature.

Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, however, never really thought Pryor would wind up in Happy Valley.

"Not really," Paterno said at today's Big Ten coaches teleconference. "I think he (looked at Penn State) out of respect for all of the Penn State people who were in the area, but I think he felt from the beginning that maybe Ohio State was a better place for him."

Paterno, who called Pryor "one of the best athletes I've ever seen in high school," did get a chance to know Pryor during his recruitment and came away impressed.

"I thought I did (get to know him)," Paterno said. "I thought I got to know his family. We've had a lot of good football players from Jeannette play for us, so I was familiar with the area, knew a lot of people in the school system and spent some time. And Terrelle's high school coach was kind enough as he and his wife had me over for dinner when Terrelle was there. So I got to know him and was obviously very, very impressive -- tremendous poise. With all the attention he was getting, he handled it very, very well. It didn't take much of a brain to see how good an athlete he was if you watched him -- a great basketball player and a great, great guy out on the football field... a dominant, dominant football player."

Pryor makes his return to Pennsylvania this Saturday as the Buckeyes travel to State College, Pennsylvania to face off with Penn State. His Penn State counterpart at quarterback, Daryll Clark, is ironically an Ohio native who went to Youngstown Ursuline high school and wound up following a path that would put him in a Nittany Lions uniform.

But while the storyline might be an interesting one for fans and media, Paterno does not feel the factor of facing their home state school will enter much into either quarterback's mind.

"I don't think that comes into it," Paterno said. "I think the kids want to play. They want to go out there and have good competition, respect each other, and play as well as they can, and hopefully it comes out their way. I think that holds for both kids, both Pryor and for Clark."