Welcome to the second of our preseason all-conference teams for each of the Power-5 conferences.
Check out the first instalment of the series here where our guy Will Lane gave you his picks for the SEC. Right now though, Lee Wakefield is giving you the best of the Big Ten conference, widely thought of as the next best conference in the country after the SEC.
Check out Lee’s picks below;
Here is Lee’s analysis of the picks:
No shocks here as the dominant team in the conference, Ohio State, dominates our preseason All-Conference team with the Buckeyes contributing seven players across both sides of the ball. Which includes the biggest superstars of the team in CJ Stroud, TreVeyon Henderson and Jaxon Smith-Njigba on offense.
It may be somewhat surprsing to see Iowa share the number two spot with Maryland in terms of contributors here.The Terepins should have a pretty legit offense in particular, and in truth, there would have been more Maryland selections in we had extended the exercise to include a second team! It really was a toss up between Rakim Jarrett and Dontay Demus at wide receiver and these two guys should be really fun to watch if Taulia Tagovailoa (another guy who might have pushed for second team) can bring it all together as a passer.
In true Big Ten fashion, I love the offensive line here with the whole unit being made up of guys who could eventually be top-50 draft selections when they do enter the league. Peter Skoronski and Paris Johnson headline the group but Minnesota’s John Michael Schmitz could be the first center off the board come next April’s draft.
Flipping over to the defensive side of the football, this Big Ten defense has a whole bunch of playmakers, in the front seven in particular – Watch out for Mazi Smith of Michigan, he is the #1 player on Bruce Feldman’s Freak List for the 2022 season and if Durrell Nchami can put it all together he’s going to be a fast-rising edge defender as we move through the draft cycle. Keith and I mentioned Jack Campbell on our Summer Scouting Episode on linebackers as the quintessential Bin Ten linebacker and he would truly be the heartbeat of this unit from America’s heartlands.
Finally, on the back end, it’s super-solid. Joey Porter, Tiawan Mullen and Riley Moss give the team three great coverage guys, with Avery Moss providing a whole bunch of versatility! This All-Star team really could run with the best of them in college football, and there will be some unbelievable clashes in the conference within the conference as usual this coming season.
Thanks again for reading! Tomorrow we will hit you up with our selections for the ACC at Midday (UK) and also the Big XII at 5pm (UK)
