Week 12 Big Ten All-Conference Team

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 10 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 10 all-conference team (not necessarily on same 1st, 2nd, or 3rd team)

Quarterback

1st Team: Fernando Mendoza* (Indiana)- 2,885 yds, 9.4 YPA, 30 TD, 5 INT, 5.0% BTT Rate, 1.8% TWP Rate

2nd Team: Julian Sayin* (Ohio St)- 2,715 yds, 9.5 YPA, 25 TD, 4 INT, 5.5% BTT Rate, 1.3% TWP Rate

3rd Team: Jayden Maiava (USC)- 3,050 yds, 9.4 YPA, 24 TD, 6 INT, 7.0% BTT Rate, 3.5% TWP Rate

Sayin and Mendoza have solidified the top two spots by virtue of their undefeated seasons combined with low interception totals and a lot of touchdowns. I had Demond Williams Jr. on the last edition in the 3rd team spot and he still leads the conference in total yards but his performance against Wisconsin drops him out of consideration. That just leaves Oregon’s Dante Moore and USC’s Jayden Maiava. Moore has the better advaced rate stats but has 3 fewer total touchdowns and nearly 600 fewer total yards. That’s too much to make up for Moore but the two teams face off this Saturday to see who truly deserves that spot.

Running Back

1st Team: Emmett Johnson* (Nebraska)- 1,431 yds, 14 TD, 69 MTF, 5.6 YPC; Antwan Raymond* (Rutgers)- 1,160 yds, 12 TD, 67 MTF, 5.0 YPC

2nd Team: Jonah Coleman* (Washington)- 980 yds, 15 TD, 36 MTF, 4.9 YPC; Jordan Marshall* (Michigan)- 952 yds, 10 TDs, 35 MTF 6.1 YPC

3rd Team: Kaytron Allen* (Penn State)- 963 yds, 12 TD, 53 MTF, 5.6 YPC; Justice Haynes* (Michigan)- 907 yds, 10 TD, 32 MTF, 7.1 YPC

Injuries are playing a major role in this one as Jonah Coleman has finally fallen out of the 1st team spot for the first time this season after he played less than a half against Wisconsin and then missed the game against Purdue. Justice Haynes has slowly slid from 1st team to barely clinging on to the 3rd team after missing his last 3 games. In his place, Jordan Marshall has starred for Michigan and ascended up to the 2nd team while Penn State’s Kaytron Allen has secured his 3rd team spot with a couple big games in a row.

Wide Receiver

1st Team: Makai Lemon* (USC)- 1,106 yds, 10 TD, 3.6 Y/RR; Jeremiah Smith* (Ohio St)- 922 yds, 11 TD, 3.4 Y/RR; Omar Cooper Jr.* (Indiana)- 814 yds, 11 TD, 2.6 Y/RR

2nd Team: KJ Duff* (Rutgers)- 923 yds, 6 TD, 2.4 Y/RR; Carnell Tate* (Ohio St)- 730 yds, 7 TD, 3.5 Y/RR; Hank Beatty* (Illinois)- 799 yds, 6 TD, 3.0 Y/RR

3rd Team: Elijah Sarrat* (Indiana)- 609 yds, 10 TD, 2.7 Y/RR; Denzel Boston* (Washington)- 730 yds, 10 TD, 2.4 Y/RR; Griffin Wilde* (Northwestern)- 649 yds, 5 TD, 2.5 Y/RR

I kept the same group of nine here with just one change. KJ Duff was replaced by Omar Cooper Jr. on the 1st team with the tiebreaker being Cooper’s insane game-clinching TD catch versus Penn State. Everything else stayed the same although injuries to Carnell Tate, Denzel Boston, and Elijah Sarrat over the last few weeks have prevented them from ascending higher. Michigan’s Andrew Marsh and Rutgers’ Ian Strong are next in line should any of that group continue to miss time. Washington can’t regret ending up with Roebuck and Vines-Bright but imagine if they’d also managed to get Marsh after narrowly finishing #2.

Tight End

1st Team: Kenyon Sadiq* (Oregon)- 407 yds, 6 TD, 2.1 Y/RR

2nd Team: Lake McRee* (USC)- 384 yds, 2 TD, 1.7 Y/RR

3rd Team: Riley Nowakowski (Indiana)- 296 yds, 2 TD, 1.9 Y/RR

I decided to mix things up on the 3rd team here with Riley Nowakowski surpassing Lance Mason. Nowakowski is only 30 receiving yards behind and has a much better blocking grade from PFF. Although Mason should maybe get bonus credit for the difficulty of being 3rd among B1G TE in receiving yards given the decrepit state of the Wisconsin passing game.

Offensive Line

1st Team: LT Carter Smith* (Indiana); LG Beau Stephens* (Iowa); C Logan Jones* (Iowa); RG- Kade Pieper* (Iowa); RT Gennings Dunker* (Iowa)

2nd Team: LT JC Davis (Illinois)*; LG Emmanuel Pregnon* (Oregon); C Matt Gulbin* (Michigan State); RG Evan Beerntsen* (Northwestern); RT Alan Herron* (Maryland)

3rd Team: LT Austin Siereveld* (Ohio State); LG Vega Ioane* (Penn State); C Pat Coogan (Indiana); RG- Kwabena Asomoah* (Rutgers); 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.

We pretty much reached equilibrium here few weeks ago as there was only one new addition this week. Pat Coogan of Indiana managed to take over the 3rd team center spot. Otherwise the 1st/2nd team left tackles flip flopped as did the 2nd/3rd team right guards. Washington’s Drew Azzopardi is the closest Husky to making the list but an injury against Wisconsin likely derailed his chance of playing his way back into 3rd place at RT.

Defensive Tackle

1st Team: Kayden McDonald* (Ohio St)- 36 tackles, 8 pressures, 2 sacks, 22 stops; Bear Alexander* (Oregon)- 34 tackles, 9 pressures, 5 TFL, 27 stops

2nd Team: Tyrique Tucker* (Indiana)- 24 tackles, 21 pressures, 6 sacks, 17 stops; Aaron Graves* (Iowa)- 24 tackles, 18 pressures, 5 sacks, 17 stops

3rd Team: Mario Landino* (Indiana)- 16 tackles, 24 pressures, 6 sacks, 11 stops; Cam Rice (Maryland)- 31 tackles, 21 pressures, 2 sacks, 13 stops

We only had one new addition this week at the DT spot with Maryland’s Cam Rice surpassing Michigan’s Rayshaun Benny. The counting stats slightly favor Rice while the overall PFF grade is heavily slanted towards Benny. We’ll see if I come to regret that pick. It’s also incredibly annoying that the gamble for Oregon to take USC’s Bear Alexander has absolutely paid off for him and he’s now pretty clearly on my 1st team. Disgusting.

Edge Rusher

1st Team: Anthony Smith* (Minnesota)- 17 tackles, 35 pressures, 12 sacks, 18 stops; Derrick Moore* (Michigan)- 25 tackles, 30 pressures, 9 sacks, 16 stops, 2 forced fumbles

2nd Team: Caden Curry* (Ohio State)- 35 tackles, 33 pressures, 7 sacks, 24 stops; Teitum Tuioti* (Oregon)- 40 tackles, 21 pressures, 6 sacks, 32 stops

3rd Team: Gabe Jacas* (Illinois)- 20 tackles, 28 pressures, 7 sacks, 20 stops, 2 forced fumbles; Dani Dennis-Sutton (Penn State)- 29 tackles, 40 pressures, 4 sacks, 18 stops, 2 forced fumbles

Just like with the DT spot we only have one new addition to the group with Penn State’s Dani-Dennis Sutton making it onto the 3rd team. DDS was a preseason 1st team pick but struggled to actually get to the quarterback for much of the season. He has finally gotten up to 4 sacks while tying for the conference lead in QB pressures which gets him onto the list. We also had a narrow swap between Derrick Moore and Caden Curry on the 1st/2nd team although it’s a razor thin margin between the two rivals.

Linebacker

1st Team: Daniel Wingate* (Maryland)- 96 tackles, 12 pressures, 4 TFL, 40 stops, 1 INT; Arvell Reese* (Ohio St)- 49 tackles, 23 pressures, 8 sacks, 29 stops

2nd Team: JonJon Vaughns (UCLA)- 97 tackles, 35 stops, 1 fumble recovery; Mac Uihlein (Northwestern)- 78 tackles, 37 stops, 4 INT

3rd Team: Sonny Styles (Ohio State)- 61 tackles, 33 stops, 1 INT, 2 PBU; Rolijah Hardy (Indiana)- 60 tackles, 20 pressures, 7 sacks, 32 stops

There continues to still be heavy movement here as it is tough to decide what to value the most highly at the linebacker spot. I ended up essentially picking the top 2 tacklers, top 2 coverage linebackers, and top 2 pass rushing linebackers and distributing them throughout the list. This one gives me a headache.

Cornerback

1st Team: D’Angelo Ponds* (Indiana)- 50.0% comp, 7.1 Y/REC, 1 INT, 6 PBU; Jyaire Hill* (Michigan)- 53.8% comp, 7.3 Y/REC, 1 INT, 6 PBU; Jadon Canady* (Oregon)- 45.8% comp, 6.2 Y/REC, 0 INT, 2 PBU

2nd Team: Brandon Finney Jr.* (Oregon)- 25.0% comp, 9.7 Y/REC, 1 INT, 2 PBU; TJ Hall* (Iowa)- 43.1% comp, 11.2 Y/REC, 1 INT, 6 PBU; John Nestor* (Minnesota)- 60.8% comp, 9.0 Y/REC, 3 INT, 5 PBU

3rd Team: Rodrick Pleasant* (UCLA)- 50.0% comp, 8.7 Y/REC, 0 INT, 7 PBU; La’khi Roland (Maryland)- 35.3% comp, 14.3 Y/REC, 3 INT, 0 PBU; Zach Lutmer* (Iowa)- 62.2% comp, 9.0 Y/REC, 2 INT, 4 PBU

There continues to be some mixing between the 1st/2nd/3rd teams but for the most part we’ve settled on the top 8 plus a rotating cast of Maryland CBs for the last spot on the 3rd team. If Tacario Davis didn’t keep getting called for pass interference (and especially if those DPIs didn’t negate interceptions), then he would have an argument. And Ephesians Prysock is now up to 9th in the conference in PFF grade and is at least in the conversation for a 3rd team spot if he can manage to get his hands on a few more balls between now and the end of the season.

Safety

1st Team: Bishop Fitzgerald* (USC)- 53 tackles, 13 stops, 5 INT, 3 PBU; Jalen Huskey* (Maryland)- 64 tackles, 19 stops, 4 INT

2nd Team: Caleb Downs* (Ohio State)- 49 tackles, 4 TFL, 25 stops, 2 INT; Robert Fitzgerald (Northwestern)- 96 tackles, 34 stops, 1 INT

3rd Team: Alex McLaughlin* (Washington)- 76 tackles, 25 stops, 2 INT, 5 PBU; Louis Moore* (Indiana)- 64 tackles, 19 stops, 5 INT, 2 PBU

I decided to bump up Northwestern’s Robert Fitzgerald not only just into the discussion but all the way up to 2nd team since he is now 20 tackles higher than any other safety. His coverage numbers are still really bad but he has been good enough as a run defender that he deserves credit. I’m also probably giving Caleb Downs a little too much credit based on name recognition. His rate stats are good but his counting stats and in particular his tackles are quite a bit lower than everyone else in consideration. But I’ll let the eye test win out on that one.