The Nissan 350z Terrelle Pryor showed up in yesterday still sporting temporary tags

It’s like a gift that keeps on giving.

Terrelle Pryor just doesn’t seem to care what the NCAA thinks about the possibility of further violations involving him and a Columbus-area car dealership. That much is certain when Pryor showed up to a players-only meeting at the Woody Hayes Athletics Center in a shiny 2007 Nissan 350z (estimated price of a recent, used 350z ranges (Edmunds / Car and Driver) between $16,300 to $28,525) with tinted windows and temporary tags bought and registered just 6 days ago by his mother Thomasina Pryor, the same struggling mother that Pryor tried to help out by selling memorabilia for cash and tattoos last season.

This just hours following a scathing report by the Columbus Dispatch uncovering a second on-going investigation by Ohio State and the NCAA centering on allegations of improper benefits over Pryor’s relationship with a local car dealer and Columbus-area dealership.

The NCAA and the Ohio State University’s compliance office are conducting an independent investigation of Terrelle Pryor amid allegations that the star quarterback may have received cars and other extra benefits, sources told The Dispatch today.

Pryor has been questioned by OSU compliance officials in the past, but sources said this is the most significant inquiry to date. He already has been interviewed at least once by investigators within the past few weeks, sources said.

Pryor and the cars he drives have been an issue since he arrived on campus three years ago. Pryor has been connected to more than a half dozen vehicles during his time at Ohio State, according to sources.

In an ongoing case where perception by the NCAA and the general public could shape the scope of the investigation, Terrelle Pryor’s sheer contempt is downright shocking, even borderline comical. Even for a player whose struggle with tact and decision making is well-documented.

You would think a player in the center of a scandal that has already cost Jim Tressel his job and is currently still under the intense scrutiny by the NCAA over allegations of receiving cars and other benefits would go to great lengths to avoid any perception of wrongdoing. Instead, the Buckeye quarterback shows up to the players-only meeting that was called in response to Jim Tressel’s resignation over serious violations involving a cash-for-memorabilia scandal involving – yes, Terrelle Pryor and several other teammates, in a shiny Nissan 350z still sporting temporary tags. Ouch.

It was apparently too much for fans to expect Pryor to ride the COTA or carpool to the meeting in a symbolic gesture of remorse just mere hours after costing his Ohio State it’s head coach.

With Pryor already serving a 5-game suspension for Tattgate, and an on-going NCAA investigation over further violations involving ‘borrowed‘ cars and improper benefits, it is starting to look as if his days sporting the Scarlet and Gray is coming to an abrupt end. But his departure from Columbus will have come at an irreparable cost to the Ohio State program and it’s fans. Two on-going investigations surrounding improper benefits, the looming threat of the dreaded Lack of Institutional Control charge, one of Ohio State’s most successful head coaches, 2 Big Ten titles and the entire 2009 and 2010 seasons all lie in the wake of Terrelle Pryor’s tenure in Columbus. Who knew a single recruit could possibly do so much damage. And depending on how far back this culture of improper benefits has existed in Columbus, there remains a good possibility of even heavier sanctions on the Buckeye program.

And to think, Penn State was ‘too country‘ for the nation’s top-recruit back in 2008. It’s becoming more evident Pryor just didn’t see the same off-the-field opportunities in State College he saw in the bright lights of Columbus.

• Updated 17:49 EST:

NBC4i is reporting that Pryor drove a 2007 black Nissan 350z sports car to last evenings players-only meeting at Woody Hayes Athletics Center with a suspended license. Pryor’s license was suspended less than 2 weeks ago for no proof of insurance and is in effect through mid-August. The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles has said it has no indication that Pryor has been granted driving privileges. The NCAA investigation is starting to look like the least of Pryor’s worries at this point.