Dienhart: Week 9 Player Rankings

The Big Ten is loaded with standout players on both sides of the ball. There?s Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson, Illinois defensive end Whitney Mercilus, Iowa offensive tackle Riley Reiff, Nebraska linebacker Lavonte David and Michigan State wide receiver B.J. Cunningham, who joined The Next Level on Tuesday night. Watch the interview now.

But how do they all stack up? And who?s No. 1? Check out my latest rankings of the Top 25 Big Ten players in this post. I'll update the list every week.

 TOP 25 PLAYER RANKINGS

1.   Russell Wilson, QB, Wisconsin
2.   Whitney Mercilus, DE, Illinois
3.   Lavonte David, LB, Nebraska
4.   Jerel Worthy, DT, Michigan State
5.   Denard Robinson, QB, Michigan
6.   Montee Ball, RB, Wisconsin
7.   Devon Still, DT, Penn State
8.   A.J. Jenkins, WR, Illinois
9.   Riley Reiff, OT, Iowa
10. Chris Borland, LB, Wisconsin
11. Silas Redd, RB, Penn State
12. Peter Konz, C, Wisconsin
13. John Simon, DT, Ohio State
14. Kirk Cousins, QB, Michigan State
15. Gerald Hodges, LB, Penn State
16. Taylor Martinez, QB, Nebraska
17. James Vandenberg, QB, Iowa
18. Rex Burkhead, RB, Nebraska
19. Dan Herron, RB, Ohio State
20. Micah Hyde, CB, Iowa
21. B.J. Cunningham, WR, Michigan State
22. Isaiah Lewis, S, Michigan State
23. Mike Adams, OT, Ohio State
24. Jake Stoneburner, TE, Ohio State
25. Denicos Allen, LB, Michigan State

By school
5 – Michigan State
4 – Ohio State, Wisconsin
3 – Iowa, Nebraska, Penn State
2 – Illinois
1 – Michigan

By position
5 – Quarterback
4 – Running back, defensive line, linebacker
3 – Offensive line
2 – Defensive back, Wide receiver
1 – Tight end

Tom Dienhart is a senior writer for BTN.com. Find all of his work at www.btn.com/tomdienhart, follow Dienhart on twitter at @BTNTomDienhart, and click here to subscribe to his RSS feed.