Gwinnett Prep Sports

LOGANVILLE — Grayson lineman Richard Pryor Jr. struggled to get many words out during a brief speech Wednesday at his high school signing day ceremony.

The crowd applauded as he collected himself as his parents watched on, decked out in the yellow and black of Iowa, where Pryor will begin school and walk-on the football program next fall.

Pryor chose Iowa for more than football — he likes the engineering program. That, and it's where his father played his college football.

“I liked how they do things,” he said, “especially on the academic side.”

He heads to Iowa with a big academic scholarship and hopes he can parlay his time as a walk-on into a football scholarship as well.

“It'll keep me out of trouble,” he said.