Kicking off Big Ten media days

Here we go:

The Big Ten's "Players to watch" list as voted on by league media:

Park Ridge, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference announced today its second annual football Players to Watch list, with 10 players earning preseason recognition. The preseason Players to Watch list is selected by a media panel and consists of five student-athletes each from the Legends Division and Leaders Division.

Representing the Legends Division are Michigan offensive tackle Taylor Lewan and quarterback Denard Robinson, Michigan State cornerback Johnny Adams and defensive end William Gholston and Nebraska running back Rex Burkhead.

The Leaders Division honorees are Ohio State defensive lineman John Simon and quarterback Braxton Miller, Purdue defensive tackle Kawann Short and Wisconsin running back Montee Ball and linebacker Chris Borland.

The list of honorees includes the last two Big Ten Offensive Players of the Year in Robinson (2010) and Ball (2011), two Big Ten Freshman of the Year honorees in Borland (2009) and Miller (2011), five All-Americans and nine All-Conference selections.

Ball, Borland, Robinson, Short and Simon have each been named All-Americans in past seasons. All five Legends Division players have earned All-Big Ten honors, including first-team accolades for Adams, Burkhead and Robinson and second-team laurels for Lewan and Gholston. The Leaders Division honorees include four first-team All-Big Ten selections in Ball, Borland, Short and Simon.

The complete list of Big Ten football preseason Players to Watch appears below:

LEGENDS DIVISION

Taylor Lewan, OT, Michigan

Denard Robinson, QB, Michigan

Johnny Adams, CB, Michigan State

William Gholston, DE, Michigan State

Rex Burkhead, RB, Nebraska

LEADERS DIVISION

John Simon, DL, Ohio State

Braxton Miller, QB, Ohio State

Kawann Short, DT, Purdue

Montee Ball, RB, Wisconsin

Chris Borland, LB, Wisconsin

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IOWA'S TWO DEEPS

Offense

SE 6 *** Keenan Davis 6-3 215 Sr.

8 * Don Shumpert ^ 6-3 190 Jr.

LT 68 * Brandon Scherff 6-5 310 So.

78 Andrew Donnal 6-7 302 So.

LG 60 * Matt Tobin 6-6 290 Sr.

50 Drew Clark 6-4 288 Jr.

C 53 ** James Ferentz 6-2 284 Sr.

57 Tommy Gaul 6-3 264 So.

RG 63 Austin Blythe 6-3 275 #Fr.

or 59 Conor Boffeli 6-5 290 Jr.

65 Jordan Walsh 6-4 270 #Fr.

RT 70 ** Brett Van Sloten 6-7 292 Jr.

76 * Nolan MacMillan 6-6 290 Jr.

TE 86 ** C.J. Fiedorowicz ^ 6-7 265 Jr.

85 ** Zach Derby 6-3 240 Sr.

or 82 * Ray Hamilton 6-5 248 So.

QB 16 *** James Vandenberg 6-3 212 Sr.

15 Jake Rudock 6-3 200 #Fr.

or 19 Cody Sokol 6-2 215 Jr.

WR 11 * Kevonte Martin-Manley 6-0 205 So.

83 * Steven Staggs 6-3 195 Sr.

RB 32 * Damon Bullock ^ 6-0 195 So.

30 De'Andre Johnson 5-8 200 So.

FB 38 ** Brad Rogers 5-10 230 Jr.

92 ** Jonathan Gimm 6-3 240 Sr.

or 45 Mark Weisman 6-0 225 So.

PK 96 ** Mike Meyer ^ 6-2 185 Jr.

1 Marshall Koehn 6-0 160 #Fr

Defense

LE 99 Joe Gaglione 6-4 264 Sr.

94 Riley McMinn 6-7 245 #Fr.

LT 71 Carl Davis 6-5 310 So.

or 97 Darian Cooper 6-2 280 #Fr.

98 Mike Hardy 6-5 270 So.

RT 90 Louis Trinca-Pasat 6-3 270 So.

75 Dean Tsopanides 6-2 240 #Fr.

RE 79 * Dominic Alvis 6-4 265 Jr.

or 54 * Steve Bigach 6-3 282 Sr.

49 Melvin Spears 6-2 255 #Fr.

OLB 20 ** Christian Kirksey ^ 6-2 220 Jr.

39 Travis Perry 6-3 230 #Fr.

MLB 44 ** James Morris ^ 6-2 230 Jr.

52 * Quinton Alston ^ 6-1 224 So.

WLB 31 ** Anthony Hitchens ^ 6-1 224 Jr.

36 Cole Fisher 6-2 218 #Fr.

LC 19 ** B.J. Lowery ^ 5-11 188 Jr.

27 * Jordan Lomax ^ 5-10 190 So.

SS 21 * Nico Law ^ 6-1 195 So.

13 ** Tom Donatell 6-2 205 Sr.

or 10 * Collin Sleeper 6-2 200 Sr.

FS 5 ** Tanner Miller ^ 6-2 201 Jr.

48 * John Lowdermilk ^ 6-2 203 So.

RC 18 *** Micah Hyde ^ 6-1 190 Sr.

2 *** Greg Castillo 5-11 187 Sr.

PT 14 * John Wienke 6-5 220 Sr.

or 15 Jonny Mullings 6-3 210 So