Tuesday, December 13, 2011
ESPN.com's Big Ten All-Freshman team
By Adam Rittenberg and Brian Bennett
Earlier today, we revealed a handful of our top freshmen from 2011. Now it's time to unveil the entire Big Ten All-Freshman team from the season.
Some positions were easier to find players than others, but this crew should be worth watching in years to come. Both true freshmen and redshirt freshmen were considered for the team.
DL: Marcus Rush, Michigan State
DL: Ryan Russell, Purdue
DL: Michael Bennett, Ohio State
DL:Ben Perry, Minnesota
LB: Ryan Shazier, Ohio State
LB: Jake Ryan, Michigan
LB: Desmond Morgan, Michigan
CB: Bradley Roby, Ohio State CB: Blake Countess, Michigan
S: Mark Murphy, Indiana
S: Ibraheim Campbell, Northwestern
SPECIAL TEAMS
K: Matt Wile, Michigan
P: Mike Sadler, Michigan State
KR: Raheem Mostert, Purdue
PR: Ameer Abdullah, Nebraska
There were some tough choices, and several positions had more candidates than others. Cornerback, for example, featured several promising freshmen contributors. Michigan State's Tony Lippett and Penn State's Adrian Amos were close to making the cut. Indiana quarterback Tre Roberson is another player meriting mention, although Miller deserved the nod at quarterback.
Not surprisingly, it was a struggle to fill out the offensive line as most freshmen linemen don't see the field. Like we did with the general All-Big Ten team, we didn't assign positions for the O-line and simply picked the best five players. It also was a bit unusual not to have a full-time freshman place-kicker. Michigan's Wile handled kickoffs and some punting, but Brendan Gibbons kicked field goals for the Wolverines.
