Adrian Clayborn, the No. 1 football player in the Big Ten according to ESPN.com

Countdowns are big summertime features for writers and bloggers of college football.

 Bob Asmussen of the Champaign Press-Gazette, one of the good guys and a very good sportswriter, is doing a 100-day countdown for the start of Camp Rantoul, when Illinois begins its practicing in August for the 2010 season.

The New York Times' college sports blog, The Quad, counts down all the FBS teams in its preseason rankings. It has many teams to go, but has placed Iowa State at a not-so-glorious No. 88.

Then there's Adam Rittenberg's ESPN.com Big Ten blog. Adam, another of the good guys, has been counting down his top 25 Big Ten players leading into this season. Today he unveiled No. 2. It was Michigan State linebacker Greg Jones.

It's like a Miss America contest. They get down to the final two, and when they name No. 2, No. 1 starts crying with shock and joy. Somehow, I don't think Iowa defensive end Adrian Clayborn will be doing likewise, but he's going to be No. 1 all the same.

Unless Rittenberg left him out of the top 25 altogether. Which is less likely than Clayborn quitting football to join the Iowa soccer team.

It's interesting to me that Adam would place Iowa safety Tyler Sash (No. 5) ahead of Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor (No. 7).  It's good to see a list, however, that gives defensive players the same amount of credit as offensive players.

Here is Rittenberg's Top 25 (minus No. 1). You can see his blog here.

No. 25: Wisconsin DE J.J. Watt

No. 24: Illinois RB Mikel LeShoure

No. 23: Iowa DT Karl Klug

No. 22: Northwestern LB Quentin Davie

No. 21: Michigan State QB Kirk Cousins

No. 20: Ohio State LB Brian Rolle

No. 19: Wisconsin QB Scott Tolzien

No. 18: Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi

No. 17: Ohio State WR DeVier Posey

No. 16: Wisconsin LB Chris Borland

No. 15: Wisconsin G/C John Moffitt

No. 14: Indiana WR Tandon Doss

No. 13: Purdue WR Keith Smith

No. 12: Ohio State LB Ross Homan

No. 11: Wisconsin LT Gabe Carimi

No. 10: Purdue DE Ryan Kerrigan

No. 9: Ohio State G Justin Boren

No. 8: Penn State G/C Stefen Wisniewski

No. 7: Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor

No. 6: Penn State RB Evan Royster

No. 5: Iowa S Tyler Sash

No. 4: Wisconsin RB John Clay

No. 3: Ohio State DL Cameron Heyward

No. 2: Michigan State LB Greg Jones