July 16, 2013 at 9:34 am

Daily Times: ‘A Leap of Faith from the Blind Side’ for Prior

“Scioto County residents will want to pay attention to the 2013 edition (of Phil Steele’s preseason report) as former Portsmouth gridiron great John Prior ’14, currently a redshirt senior offensive lineman at Ohio University, is among the numerous football players to grab Steele’s attention enough for recognition in his magazine,” writes Portsmouth Daily Times reporter Cody Leist on July 13. Prior is a Sociology-Criminology major in the College of Arts & Sciences.

John Prior

This year, Steele has listed the Bobcats’ starting left tackle on the Second Team All-Mid-American Conference Offense list. He is one of seven Ohio football players — five on the offensive side of the ball — on any of the four preseason teams listed….

“I’ve never been more excited to start a season in my life,” Prior said. “…For the season itself, we sat down with our coaching staff and determined this is the year that Ohio University is going to push and we’re going to take the MAC championship this year. Not only are we going to be MAC East champions, we’re going to be overall MAC champions.”

While the goals are mainly team-oriented, Prior feels he could play in the NFL. Since Frank Solich arrived in Athens on Dec. 17, 2004 and became the Bobcats’ head coach, the program has five former players drafted. This spring, guard Eric Herman was the latest as he was drafted in the seventh round by the New York Giants….

Prior, a pre-law major, hopes to be one of the next members of the program to move on to the next level. He credits his days as a Trojan to where he is as a player.