Big Ten links: NFL.com top 15 lists, Penn State-Pit series & much more

NFL.com has a couple of nice lists. One is of the Top 15 Heisman contenders for 2016. Hello, Ohio State quarterbacks.

The other is of the Top 15 defensive players. Hello, Joey Bosa.

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Dan Duggan of NJ.com posed five questions for Rutgers football prior to spring ball. Now, he answers them.

Question No. 1 was if a quarterback would emerge. And, of course, none did.

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The great Marc Morehouse of the Cedar Rapids Gazette took a look at trophy runs, in which teams rush to an opponent?s sideline to seize a trophy after winning a game.

I hope they remain. It?s one of the most exciting parts of a rivalry game.

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Jim Harbaugh is going to meet with Muslim Michigan students who were upset with his ?American Sniper? tweet.

The meeting, confirmed by a U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald, will be an opportunity for Harbaugh to sit down with "a small group of Muslim students" who protested the university's showing of the movie and were upset by Harbaugh's public support of the film.

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I like Northwestern A.D. Jim Phillips. He?s a smart guy. So, when he talks, I listen. And he made a good point at the recent Big Ten A.D. meetings when he said he didn?t want to be the minor leagues for the pros.

Phillips, who was named the new chair of the NCAA Division I Council in February, has seen his influence over college athletics grow over the past 18 months since the Northwestern football players filed for unionization in January 2014.

"Why have we accepted that?" Phillips asked. "Why have we just allowed that to happen without any pushback?"

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The great Bob Flounders of Pennlive.com was daydreaming the other day, imagining what a Nittany Lion d-line with Anthony Zettel and Shawn Oakman would be like. Oakman is the 6-9, 280-pound beast who landed at Baylor after getting booted from PSU by Bill O?Brien.

A defensive front of Zettel and Austin Johnson inside with Oakman and Carl Nassib outside and Garrett Sickels and Torrence Brown in reserve? That alignment would be a matchup nightmare for any offense.

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New Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi is all for the Penn State-Pitt series extending beyond the current four-year deal that starts in 2016. Amen, brother.

"I think it's an in-state rival," Narduzzi said before appearing at the Manheim Touchdown Club banquet in Lancaster. "It's two Power Five conferences that can go head to head. … To me, why not keep the money in state and play (a game between) the two best schools in the state? I'm a firm believer that you keep those rivalries going as long as you can, especially in state."

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The NBA draft lottery is over. Now, we wonder where Ohio State?s D?Angelo Russell may land: the Lakers or 76ers?

Bill Landis of Cleveland.com notes that L.A., Philly and New York are the teams lined up to take a shot at Russell. The Lakers, who had the fourth-best shot of landing the top pick heading into Tuesday, jumped over the Knicks and Sixers to take the No. 2 spot. There was a good chance Russell would've never ended up on the board for the Lakers to take if chalk prevailed in the lottery. But it rarely does, and now it's possible Russell ends up beginning his career as Kobe Bryant's teammate.

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How good is Michigan?s Aubrey Dawkins gonna be?

Brendan Quinn of Mlive.com says Dawkins was identified late by Michigan coaches. He signed over scholarship offers from a few Atlantic Ten programs, the likes of Dayton and Rhode Island. He was, in his father Johnny?s words, "a late-bloomer."

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