Unit Rankings
Post-spring position check: Top Big Ten defensive line units
Post-spring position check: Top Big Ten defensive line units
With spring practices finished, schools are focusing on offseason work before fall camp kicks off. Some positions are in better shape than others for certain schools. Let’s take a look at the seven schools in the best shape at defensive line.
Dienhart: Ranking the Big Ten's top 10 defensive backs
Dienhart: Ranking the Big Ten's top 10 defensive backs
Is there a better defensive back in the nation than Iowa?s Desmond King, the reigning Jim Thorpe Award winner? Probably not. He emerged last year as a special talent for a Hawkeye defense that helped the program race to a school-record 12-0 start en route to winning the Big Ten West and earning the school?s […]
Dienhart: Ranking the Big Ten's top 10 linebackers
Dienhart: Ranking the Big Ten's top 10 linebackers
Linebackers have to be a special breed of athlete, able to be strong enough to play the run and quick enough to drop in coverage and play in space. The Big Ten is loaded with some promising linebackers who fill the bill. [ MORE: Top 7 quarterbacks | Top 10 wide receivers | Top 10 […]
Dienhart: Ranking the Big Ten's top 10 defensive linemen
Dienhart: Ranking the Big Ten's top 10 defensive linemen
Ask any coach, and he?ll tell you the most difficult position to recruit is defensive line. It?s a challenge to find players who are big AND quick. That?s why good d-linemen are so cherished. And, Michigan State has a good one in Malik McDowell, who leads my list of top 10 Big Ten defensive linemen. […]
Dienhart: Ranking the Big Ten's top 10 offensive linemen
Dienhart: Ranking the Big Ten's top 10 offensive linemen
Football is won in the trenches. Without a good line, an offense has little chance for success-no matter how many five-star running backs are on the roster. [ MORE: Top 7 quarterbacks | Top 10 wide receivers | Top 10 running backs | Full unit rankings ] And no one in the Big Ten is […]
Dienhart: Big Ten West defensive backfield unit rankings
Dienhart: Big Ten West defensive backfield unit rankings
No Big Ten team will have a better DB than Iowa corner Desmond King, who won the Thorpe Award. But instead of turning pro coming off that season of glory, King opted to return to Iowa City. And that?s a big reason why the Hawkeyes top my ranking of Big Ten West defensive backfields. [ […]
