Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, November 1, 2011

The Big Ten is loaded with many good running backs (see the stats). In fact, it may be the deepest position in the conference. So, it should be no surprise that Penn State?s Silas Redd has taken over the No. 1 spot in my weekly ranking of the Top 25 players in the Big Ten.

Redd has been on a roll of late, running for 129, 142, 131, 164 and 137 yards in his last five games to help push the Nittany Lions to the top of the Leaders Division and make Penn State the lone unbeaten team in conference action. See Tom's complete list in this post.

TOP 25 PLAYER RANKINGS
1.   Silas Redd, RB, Penn State – Last Week: No. 11
2.   Russell Wilson, QB, Wisconsin – LW: No. 1
3.   Lavonte David, LB, Nebraska – LW: No. 3
4.   Denard Robinson, QB, Michigan – LW: No. 5
5.   Devon Still, DT, Penn State – LW: No. 7
6.   Whitney Mercilus, DE, Illinois – LW: No. 2
7.   A.J. Jenkins, WR, Illinois – LW: No. 8
8.   Jerel Worthy, DT, Michigan State – LW: No. 4
9.   Peter Konz, C, Wisconsin – LW: No. 12
10.  John Simon, DT, Ohio State – LW: No. 13
11. Mike Caputo, C, Nebraska – LW: NR
12. Gerald Hodges, LB, Penn State – LW: No. 15
13. Montee Ball, RB, Wisconsin – LW: No. 6
14. David Molk, C, Michigan – LW: NR
15. Mike Adams, OT, Ohio State – LW: No. 23
16. Rex Burkhead, RB, Nebraska – LW: No. 18
17. Dan Herron, RB, Ohio State – LW: No. 19
18. Kirk Cousins, QB, Michigan State – LW: No. 14
19. Chris Borland, LB, Wisconsin – LW: No. 10
20. Taylor Martinez, QB, Nebraska – LW: No. 16
21. Riley Reiff, OT, Iowa – LW: No. 9
22. James Vandenberg, QB, Iowa – LW: No. 17
23. Marcus Coker, RB, Iowa – LW: NR
24. Marvin McNutt, WR, Iowa – LW: NR
25. Drake Dunsmore, TE, Northwestern – LW: NR

By school
4 - Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin
3 - Ohio State, Penn State
2 - Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State
1 - Northwestern

By position
5 – Offensive line, quarterback, running back
4 – Defensive line
3 – Linebacker
2 – 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.