Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, August 24, 2013

We're five days from the 2013 football season kicking off. Indiana (Indiana State) and Minnesota (UNLV) get things started for the Big Ten on Thursday on BTN/BTN2Go. To help count down the days to kickoff, BTN.com is ranking the top 25 players. Join us as we count it down, from 25-1, every day.

No. 5: Venric Mark, RB, Northwestern

Is there a more underrated player in the nation? Probably not. The diminutive Mark became Northwestern's first 1,000-yard rusher since Tyrell Sutton in 2006, recording the 15th 1,000-yard rushing season in school annals last season. Mark registered the second-best single-season all-purpose yards total in school history (2,166) in 2012, finishing 29 yards shy of Damien Anderson's record. Mark is sixth on school's single-season rushing list (1,366) and totaled eight 100-yard rushing games last fall. Scary thing is, Mark says he's healthier this year than last.

View Mark's career stats:

Year Team G Rush Yds Yd/Rush TDs Rec Yds Yd/Rec TDs
2010 NW 13 8 63 7.9 0 5 43 8.6 0
2011 NW 13 15 104 6.9 1 1 4 4.0 0
2012 NW 13 226 1366 6.0 12 20 104 5.2 1
Career 39 249 1533 6.2 13 26 151 5.8 1

BTN.com?s top 25 players of 2013
1.
Aug. 28
2.
Aug. 27
3.
Aug. 26
4.
Aug. 25
5.
Venric Mark, RB, Northwestern
6.
Bradley Roby, CB, Ohio State
7.
Allen Robinson, WR, Penn State
8.
Devin Gardner, QB, Michigan
9.
Chris Borland, LB, Wisconsin
10.
Max Bullough, LB, Michigan State
11.
Ra'Shede Hageman, DT, Minnesota
12.
Kenny Bell, WR, Nebraska
13.
Tyler Scott, DE, Northwestern
14.
Ameer Abdullah, RB, Nebraska
15.
Brandon Vitabile, C, Northwestern
16. Jack Mewhort, OT, Ohio State
17.
Kain Colter, QB, Northwestern
18. Jared Abbrederis, WR, Wisconsin
19. Spencer Long, G, Nebraska
20.
Darqueze Dennard, CB, Michigan State
21.
Melvin Gordon, RB, Wisconsin
22.
Deion Barnes, DE, Penn State
23.
Isaiah Lewis, S, Michigan State
24. James White, RB, Wisconsin
25.
Anthony Hitchens, LB, Iowa