Brent Yarina, BTN.com Senior Editor, July 28, 2015
Look out, Big Ten quarterbacks!
Once again, the Big Ten will boast more than its share of premier pass-rushers.
In all, the Big Ten returns seven of its top 10 sack leaders. It all starts with Ohio State's Joey Bosa, the reigning Big Ten defensive player of the year who racked up a Big Ten-best 13.5 sacks in 2014.
All of the following guys are back after finishing tied for fourth place with eight sacks: Vince Biegel (Wisconsin), Shilique Calhoun (Michigan State), Darron Lee (Ohio State), Drew Ott (Iowa), Kemoko Turay (Rutgers) and Anthony Zettel (Penn State).
After that, don't forget, there's Ed Davis (Michigan State) and Darius Hamilton (Rutgers), among several others.
Yeah, expect a lot of sacks in 2015.
SACKS
2014 leader: Joey Bosa, DE, Ohio State – 13.5
2015 returning leader: Joey Bosa, DE, Ohio State – 13.5
How did we do last year? Two of us correctly picked Bosa.
Tom Dienhart: Joey Bosa, DE, Ohio State. Can it be anyone else other than the Ohio State half-monster/half-defensive end? Nope. He had 13.5 sacks last year and will have at least that many this fall – maybe by Halloween.
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Sean Merriman: Joey Bosa, DE, Ohio State. I would love to make a bold pick, but how do you not go with the unanimous All-American and projected No. 1 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft? This is a guy who has totaled 21 sacks in his first two seasons, and he's the best of the Big Ten's deep collection of pass-rushers. Oh yeah, and who can forget that famous shrug?
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Brent Yarina: Joey Bosa, DE, Ohio State. This is the easiest pick when it comes to 2015 Big Ten statistical predictions. We all saw what he did last year, and he isn't going to slow down, not with all of the talent on that defense and with how frequently opponents will be playing from behind and in obvious passing situations.
