Tag: All Big Ten Team

One Wisconsin Badger makes PFF’s 2023 All-Big Ten Offense

One Wisconsin Badger makes PFF’s 2023 All-Big Ten Offense

Wisconsin right tackle Riley Mahlman was the one Badger included in ProFootballFocus’ 2023 All-Big Ten Offense earlier today.

Mahlman forms the offensive line alongside Michigan’s Zak Zinter at right guard, Michigan’s Drake Nugent at center, Purdue’s Preston Nichols at left guard and Penn State’s Olumuyiwa Fashanu at left tackle.

Unsurprisingly, no other Badgers made the unit. Neither of the Badgers’ two quarterbacks were all-Big Ten-caliber this season, nor were any of their wide receivers or tight ends. The one argument could be running back Braelon Allen, but it’s a tough argument after his worst statistical season of his three in college.

Luke Fickell and his staff will need to find a few more top-end players before the Phil Longo offense works to its full effect. This transfer portal cycle presents a necessary opportunity for that to happen.

Two Huskers on the offensive line named to All-Big Team

A pair of Husker offensive linemen earned All-Big Ten honors on Wednesday afternoon.

A pair of Husker offensive linemen earned All-Big Ten honors on Wednesday afternoon. Junior right tackle Bryce Benhart and junior center Ben Scott were both named honorable-mention by the league’s coaches and media.

Benhart was the only Husker on offense to start in all 12 games this season. He also has 41 career starts, tying for the most in school history by an offensive lineman.

Scott made 11 starts this season after transferring to Nebraska from Arizona State. The two linemen join eight members of the Nebraska defense as members of the All-Big Ten team. Offensive guard Ethan Piper was Nebraska’s 2023 Big Ten Sportsmanship Award recipient.

Contact/Follow us @CornhuskersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Nebraska news, notes, and opinions.

Tominaga named to preseason All-Big Ten team

A Nebraska basketball senior guard was named to the All-Big Ten preseason team.

A Nebraska basketball senior guard was named to the All-Big Ten preseason team. Keisei Tominaga was one of ten players selected by the vote of media that covers Big Ten basketball.

He becomes the third Husker to be named to the league’s preseason team since joining the conference in 2011-12. He joins Terran Petteway (2014) and James Palmer Jr. (2018).

Last season, Tominaga averaged 13.1 points per game and was one of six players in the country to average 50% from the field, 40% from three-point range and 85% from the foul line.

2023-24 Media Big Ten Preseason All-Big Ten Team
*Terrence Shannon Jr., ILL
Julian Reese, MD
*Jahmir Young, MD
Dawson Garcia, MINN
A.J. Hoggard, MSU
Tyson Walker, MSU
Keisei Tominaga, NEB
*Boo Buie, NU
*Zach Edey, PUR
Clifford Omoruyi, RUT
* – Unanimous selection

Find a photo gallery of Keisei Tominaga’s career below.

No Huskers mentioned in PFF’s preseason All-Big Ten teams

The Nebraska Cornhuskers will walk into 2023 with a new identity and new leadership at the helm.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers will walk into 2023 with a new identity and new leadership at the helm. The program has struggled to produce talent that can be recognized nationally, and a recent look at the preseason all-conference team proves it.

Pro Football Focus unveiled their 2023 preseason teams for each conference, and no Nebraska player was featured on the three Big Ten teams they created. Expectedly so, most of the players who were featured came from Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa, and Penn State.

Michigan leads the way with seven players on the first team, Ohio State leads the way on the second team with six players, while Penn State leads the way on the third team with seven players.

One area where you can guess the decision of PFF is to leave off Anthony Grant off at least the third team. Grant graded higher and had a more productive year than Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson.

Henderson ended the 2022 campaign with just over 500 yards on the ground while grading at 73.9. Grant finished his first season in Lincoln with 909 yards and a grade of 74.0. Grant also forced 52 missed tackles, with TreVeyon only forcing 14.

Henderson did play in four fewer games, but there is a case to be made that Grant deserves a spot in one of the preseason teams. However, when you’re a playoff-contending team, your players will be propped up more than others due to the overall production of the program.

Contact/Follow us @CornhuskersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Nebraska news, notes, and opinion.

Three Badgers make PFF’s preseason All-Big Ten first team

Five Badgers get the nod for PFF’s three all-Big Ten teams

The 2023 Wisconsin Badgers are a talented football team on both sides of the ball. Despite a 7-6 2022 campaign and complete program overhaul, Wisconsin’s roster reflects what was expected when Paul Chryst went on a hot recruiting run from 2019-2021.

New head coach Luke Fickell’s most impressive offseason move, in an offseason full of them, was the influx of talent from the transfer portal. The program added transfer wide receivers C.J. Williams, Will Pauling and Bryson Green, offensive linemen Jake Renfro and Joe Huber, quarterback Tanner Mordecai and defensive back Jason Maitre among others. With all of the significant contributors from 2022 retained, there’s a real argument this is the most talented Wisconsin team in quite some time.

Related: Where Phil Steele ranks each of Wisconsin’s position groups entering the 2023 season

With the season fast approaching ProFootballFocus released its preseason All-Big Ten Teams. Three Badgers earned first-team honors: running back Braelon Allen, tackle Jack Nelson and linebacker Maema Njongmeta.

Surprisingly, only two more players made the second or third team: wide receiver Chimere Dike (second) and kicker Nathaniel Vakos (third).

The total of five players on the three teams is surprising. Phil Steele, for example, had Wisconsin with the third-best quarterback in the conference. But there could be some sense to this thought: while the 2023 Badgers have impressive depth across the field and lack many huge weaknesses, there isn’t as much top-end, elite talent as other teams have.

Preseason lists get to be relitigated at season’s end. So we’ll check back in January to see if Wisconsin truly only has five players on the conference award teams.

MSU Basketball picked to finish 4th, Aaron Henry left off All-Big Ten team in Media Poll

Michigan State basketball is not the favorites to win the Big Ten this season, not even to finish in the top three of the league.

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Michigan State basketball is not the favorites to win the Big Ten this season, not even to finish in the top three of the league, according to media members that cover the conference.

The annual Big Ten preseason media poll — which is jointly tabulated by The Columbus Dispatch and The Athletic — came out on Tuesday and listed the Spartans at No. 4 in the league, coming in behind Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. Despite winning at least a share of the regular-season title the past three years, MSU didn’t receive a single first-place vote in this year’s media poll.

Here is a breakdown of the voting from the 28 beat writes (two from each school) with first-place votes in parentheses:

  1. Illinois – 376 (16)
  2. Iowa – 350 (6)
  3. Wisconsin – 347 (6)
  4. Michigan State – 323
  5. Rutgers – 249
  6. Michigan – 241
  7. Ohio State – 229
  8. Indiana – 212
  9. Purdue – 179
  10. Maryland – 141
  11. Minnesota – 121
  12. Penn State – 72
  13. Nebraska – 54
  14. Northwestern – 47

All offseason the hype train has been pumping for Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin so I’m not surprised to see those three teams ahead of the Spartans. But what did surprise me was to see junior small forward Aaron Henry left off the All-Big Ten team. Henry earned 7 votes and was just left off the list behind Franz Wagner of Michigan, Nate Reuvers of Wisconsin, and Kofi Cockburn of Illinois.

Here are the All-Big Ten team selections with the number of votes in parentheses:

  • Luka Garza – Iowa (28)
  • Ayo Dosunmu – Illinois (28)
  • Trayce Jackson-Davis – Indiana (24)
  • Kofi Cockburn – Illinois (11)
  • Nate Reuvers – Wisconsin (11)
  • Franz Wagner – Michigan (11)

Joey Hauser (2 votes), Joshua Langford (1 vote) and Rocket Watts (1 vote) were the other Spartans who received votes in this poll.

Click here to see more on this year’s Big Ten preseason media poll.

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MSU Basketball SF Aaron Henry named to Preseason All-Big Ten Team

Michigan State basketball junior small forward Aaron Henry has been named as one of 10 players on the Preseason All-Big Ten Team.

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Michigan State basketball junior small forward Aaron Henry has been selected as one of 10 players on the Preseason All-Big Ten Team.

The 10 recipients were named on Monday morning, with eight different schools having a player crack the list. Illinois junior guard Ayo Dosunmu and Iowa senior center Luka Garza were the lone two unanimous selections.

The complete list of the Preseason All-Big Ten Team can be seen in the Big Ten Men’s Hoops tweet below:

Last week, Henry was selected to the Julius Erving Award watch list — an award handed out to the best small forward in all of college basketball.

Henry enters this season as the Spartans’ returning leading scorer — averaging 10 points per game last year.

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