Welcome to the fifth edition of our look at the race for the Big Ten All-Conference team. I’ll be doing this every 2 weeks to provide an evolving snapshot in part to see how dramatically things change over the course of the season. We’re somehow almost halfway through the season already. If you missed the week 8 picks you can check them out here.
Below are my picks and a quick recap of the decisions at each position. In order to provide the stat breakdowns I used some shorthand abbreviations. Any use of “yards” includes combined non-sack passing/rushing/receiving yards. Similarly TDs are combined passing/rushing/receiving/return touchdowns. Acronyms that might not be completely clear are: Yards per Attempt (YPA), Big-Time Throw Rate (BTT Rate), Turnover-Worthy Play Rate (TWP Rate), MTF (Missed Tackles Forced), YPC (Yards per Carry), Y/RR (Yards per Route Run), Stops (tackles on unsuccessful plays by the offense).
*Player was also on the week 4 all-conference team (not necessarily on same 1st, 2nd, or 3rd team)
Quarterback
1st Team: Fernando Mendoza* (Indiana)- 2,326 yds, 9.4 YPA, 29 TD, 4 INT, 3.7% BTT Rate, 1.5% TWP Rate
2nd Team: Julian Sayin* (Ohio St)- 2,215 yds, 10.0 YPA, 23 TD, 3 INT, 5.3% BTT Rate, 1.3% TWP Rate
3rd Team: Demond Williams Jr. (Washington)- 2,652 yds, 9.5 YPA, 18 TD, 4 INT, 3.5% BTT Rate, 1.7% TWP Rate
There are five reasonable candidates for the 3 spots and I’d have a hard time faulting someone for putting them in just about any order. Mendoza has 6 more total touchdowns than anyone else in the conference and the Hoosiers are undefeated so he gets my 1st team pick. Sayin is similarly leading an undefeated team and is the national leader in completion percentage and the conference leader in yards per attempt.
That brings it down to a race between Williams, Dante Moore, and Jayden Maiava for the final spot. Maiava has the most touchdowns and the highest yards per attempt of those three but also has a turnover-worthy play rate almost double the other two. Moore has a big-time throw rate nearly double that of Williams and has one more total TD but has nearly 700 fewer total yards since he isn’t being asked to do as much. That ended up being the decider for me to put Williams at 3rd team and I only kind of feel like a homer doing so.
Running Back
1st Team: Jonah Coleman* (Washington)- 959 yds, 13 TD, 36 MTF, 5.1 YPC; Emmett Johnson* (Nebraska)- 1,199 yds, 10 TD, 64 MTF, 5.7 YPC
2nd Team: Antwan Raymond* (Rutgers)- 920 yds, 10 TD, 50 MTF, 4.8 YPC; Justice Haynes* (Michigan)- 907 yds, 10 TD, 32 MTF, 7.1 YPC
3rd Team: Kaytron Allen* (Penn State)- 732 yds, 10 TD, 39 MTF, 5.8 YPC; Jordan Marshall (Michigan)- 803 yds, 8 TDs, 33 MTF 5.9 YPC
My initial edition of this had 0 changes from last week but I ultimately decided to put Jordan Marshall of Michigan over Bo Jackson of Ohio State for the final spot on the 3rd team. With Justice Haynes likely out for the season there’s definitely a good chance that Marshall will leapfrog him and end up on the 2nd team.
Emmett Johnson will only continue to see a ridiculous workload especially now that QB Dylan Raiola is out for the season for Nebraska. His spot on 1st team is almost locked up. Jonah Coleman’s rushing numbers are still suffering but the injury to Haynes and his early lead in total touchdowns means it will be hard for him to lose his spot on the 1st team.
Wide Receiver
1st Team: Makai Lemon* (USC)- 787 yds, 7 TD, 3.3 Y/RR; Jeremiah Smith* (Ohio St)- 745 yds, 10 TD, 3.4 Y/RR; KJ Duff (Rutgers)- 854 yds, 6 TD, 2.4 Y/RR
2nd Team: Carnell Tate* (Ohio St)- 711 yds, 7 TD, 3.5 Y/RR; Omar Cooper Jr.* (Indiana)- 743 yds, 9 TD, 3.0 Y/RR; Hank Beatty* (Illinois)- 774 yds, 6 TD, 3.2 Y/RR
3rd Team: Elijah Sarrat* (Indiana)- 609 yds, 10 TD, 2.7 Y/RR; Denzel Boston* (Washington)- 680 yds, 9 TD, 2.5 Y/RR; Griffin Wilde* (Northwestern)- 570 yds, 4 TD, 2.8 Y/RR
Only one change happened here although it was a fairly major shake up. Rutgers receiver Ian Strong dropped off the list from 3rd team and is pretty clearly 10th at this point. He was replaced by his teammate KJ Duff who had 334 receiving yards in the 2 games since the last edition which vaults him to the conference lead and puts him on the 1st team overall. Jeremiah Smith also ascended up to 1st team as he is one of the few players whose yards per route run numbers are actually still improving over the early season performance. That drops Omar Cooper Jr. and Hank Beatty down to 2nd team.
Tight End
1st Team: Kenyon Sadiq* (Oregon)- 311 yds, 5 TD, 1.8 Y/RR
2nd Team: Lake McRee* (USC)- 313 yds, 2 TD, 1.7 Y/RR
3rd Team: Luke Lindenmeyer (Nebraska)- 286 yds, 2 TD, 1.3 Y/RR
No changes here on any of the 3 teams. I want to find a spot for Illinois’ Cole Rusk who is far and away the top ranked tight end by PFF but his receiving numbers just aren’t anywhere close to the others and I’m expecting that to be what the voters primarily use.
Offensive Line
1st Team: LT JC Davis (Illinois)*; LG Beau Stephens* (Iowa); C Logan Jones* (Iowa); RG- Kade Pieper* (Iowa); RT Gennings Dunker* (Iowa)
2nd Team: LT Carter Smith* (Indiana); LG Emmanuel Pregnon* (Oregon); C Matt Gulbin* (Michigan State); RG- Kwabena Asomoah* (Rutgers); RT Alan Herron* (Maryland)
3rd Team: LT Austin Siereveld* (Ohio State); LG Vega Ioane* (Penn State); C Jackson Carsello* (Northwestern); RG Evan Beerntsen* (Northwestern); RT Kahlil Benson* (Indiana)
Once again, I’m pretty up front with the offensive line that I just go off of PFF grades because there’s no way for me to scout the OL and the stats from other sources for individual linemen are even sketchier. My criteria were that I pick the highest graded player at each line spot who has played the majority of their snaps at that position.
Apparently we’ve reached the portion of the year where the PFF offensive line grades are just about entrenched. The only change anywhere among the 15 here was that RT Alan Herron and Kahlil Benson flip-flopped between 2nd and 3rd team. Otherwise everything else was static. We’ll see whether some tougher opponents coming up will harm Iowa’s hegemony as the top offensive line in the conference or if they’ll just cruise to a near unanimous finish.
Defensive Tackle
1st Team: Kayden McDonald* (Ohio St)- 29 tackles, 7 pressures, 2 sacks, 18 stops; Mario Landino* (Indiana)- 11 tackles, 22 pressures, 6 sacks, 10 stops
2nd Team: Bear Alexander* (Oregon)- 27 tackles, 8 pressures, 1 sack, 21 stops; Tyrique Tucker (Indiana)- 21 tackles, 15 pressures, 5 sacks, 15 stops
3rd Team: Aaron Graves (Iowa)- 24 tackles, 14 pressures, 2 sacks, 12 stops; Rayshaun Benny (Michigan)- 24 tackles, 14 pressures, 2 sacks, 12 stops
The top 3 has solidified a bit here while there is still some variation at the bottom. There are enough players who have comparable counting stats that I opted to lean a little more heavily into overall PFF grade for the defensive tackles this week which put Graves and Benny onto the 3rd team as each is in the top 6 among B1G DTs so far this year in that regard.
Edge Rusher
1st Team: Anthony Smith* (Minnesota)- 17 tackles, 33 pressures, 11 sacks, 17 stops; Caden Curry* (Ohio State)- 32 tackles, 29 pressures, 7 sacks, 22 stops
2nd Team: Derrick Moore* (Michigan)- 21 tackles, 28 pressures, 9 sacks, 14 stops, 2 forced fumbles; Gabe Jacas (Illinois)- 18 tackles, 25 pressures, 6 sacks, 17 stops, 2 forced fumbles
3rd Team: Teitum Tuioti* (Oregon)- 28 tackles, 19 pressures, 5 sacks, 25 stops; Mason Reiger (Wisconsin)- 27 tackles, 26 pressures, 3 sacks, 16 stops
There wasn’t a ton of movement here this week as Smith and Curry have solidified themselves at the top due to their ridiculous overall production. Curry is the more well-rounded player while Smith has been by far the best at getting pressure and sacks in the conference. Derrick Moore at Michigan is slowly catching up to Smith though and is deserving on 2nd team. Both Gabe Jacas and Mason Reiger have bounced in and out of the all-conference teams a few times throughout the season and this week both find themselves back on the list.
Linebacker
1st Team: Daniel Wingate* (Maryland)- 79 tackles, 9 pressures, 4 TFL, 36 stops, 1 INT; Jordan Hall (Michigan State)- 69 tackles, 2 sacks, 23 stops, 3 forced fumbles, 1 INT
2nd Team: Arvell Reese* (Ohio St)- 45 tackles, 22 pressures, 8 sacks, 27 stops; Bryce Boettcher (Oregon)- 63 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 forced fumble, 1 INT
3rd Team: Isaiah Jones* (Indiana)- 37 tackles, 14 pressures, 5 sacks, 28 stops; Javin Wright (Nebraska)- 58 tackles, 6 TFL, 22 stops, 1 INT
There continues to still be heavy movement here as it is tough to decide what to value the most highly at the linebacker spot. There are pass rushing linebackers like Arvell Reese who have been dominant in that almost hybrid LB/EDGE role. There are others who almost never rush the passer like Bryce Boettcher. And then there are the pure tackle merchants like Daniel Wingate. I tried to even things out and pick some of the ones who have been the best in various archetypes but it leads to more variation from week-to-week.
Cornerback
1st Team: D’Angelo Ponds* (Indiana)- 48.3% comp, 7.2 Y/REC, 1 INT, 4 PBU; Jyaire Hill* (Michigan)- 52.8% comp, 7.7 Y/REC, 0 INT, 6 PBU; TJ Hall* (Iowa)- 41.5% comp, 11.4 Y/REC, 1 INT, 6 PBU
2nd Team: Rodrick Pleasant* (UCLA)- 46.7% comp, 8.6 Y/REC, 0 INT, 7 PBU; Brandon Finney Jr.* (Oregon)- 14.3% comp, 9.3 Y/REC, 1 INT, 2 PBU; Jadon Canady* (Oregon)- 47.6% comp, 6.3 Y/REC, 0 INT, 2 PBU
3rd Team: Jamare Glasker* (Maryland)- 45.2% comp, 10.2 Y/REC, 3 INT, 2 PBU; John Nestor* (Minnesota)- 59.6% comp, 10.8 Y/REC, 3 INT, 5 PBU; Zach Lutmer* (Iowa)- 50% comp, 8.7 Y/REC, 2 INT, 3 PBU
There were a few moves between the various teams but all nine players from the last edition stay on top here. If Tacario Davis didn’t keep having his interceptions called back for iffy penalties then he would be under consideration for a 3rd team spot despite the missed playing time.
Safety
1st Team: Bishop Fitzgerald* (USC)- 48 tackles, 12 stops, 5 INT, 2 PBU; Caleb Downs* (Ohio State)- 41 tackles, 3 TFL, 21 stops, 2 INT
2nd Team: Jalen Huskey* (Maryland)- 52 tackles, 18 stops, 3 INT; Louis Moore (Indiana)- 55 tackles, 16 stops, 5 INT, 2 PBU
3rd Team: Alex McLaughlin* (Washington)- 64 tackles, 21 stops, 2 INT, 3 PBU; Zakee Wheatley (Penn State)- 64 tackles, 17 stops, 1 INT, 1 PBU
This is still one of the most hotly contested positions in the conference and it’s an agonizing decision for who to leave off of the team. The final spot came down to 2 other options who didn’t quite get there. Northwestern’s Robert Fitzgerald leads all safeties in stops so far this year but has really struggled in coverage and so just missed out on the final 3rd team position. Amare Ferrell of Indiana has 3 picks and 5 PBUs but has given up several long completions when he doesn’t get his hand on it and hasn’t been a very good tackler/run defender.
Team Standings
3 points for 1st team, 2 points for 2nd team, 1 point for 3rd team (last edition rank in parentheses)
- Indiana- 22 points (1)
- Ohio State- 19 points (2)
- Iowa- 17 points (3)
- Oregon- 14 points (4)
- Michigan- 9 points (7)
- USC- 8 points (5)
- Illinois- 7 points (9)
- Rutgers- 7 points (11)
- Maryland- 6 points (6)
- Washington- 6 points (8)
- Nebraska- 5 points (14)
- Michigan State- 5 points (15)
- Minnesota- 4 points (10)
- Penn State- 3 points (17)
- Northwestern- 3 points (13)
- UCLA- 2 points (12)
- Wisconsin- 1 point (18)
- Purdue- 0 points (16)