Iowa cornerback edges Illinois pass rusher for Big Ten Preseason Defensive Player of the Year

With the college football season drawing closer, preseason polls and voting are rolling in to end the month of July. That includes voting in the Big Ten which just scored at least one Iowa player a significant honor.

In Cleveland.com’s Big Ten Football Poll, Iowa DB Cooper DeJean was named the conference’s preseason Defensive Player of the Year. He just edged out Illinois DL Jer’Zhan Newton for the selection.

Overall, Newton’s name appeared on more ballots with 23 appearances compared to DeJean’s 21. However, the deciding factor for DeJean was the fact that he was voted in second-place nine times compared to Newton’s four.

DeJean broke out as a sophomore for Iowa last season. He posted 75 tackles on the year with eight pass deflections and five interceptions. In total, he scored three defensive touchdowns for the Hawkeyes by way of pick-sixes. He finished third on the team in tackles, second in deflections, and first in interceptions and interception touchdowns.

He was a key part of the Hawkeye secondary on a defense that finished No. 2 in the country by giving up just 13.3 points per game.

As for Newton, he went for career-highs across the board for Illinois’ No. 1 defense that gave up just 12.8 points per game last season. He finished with 59 tackles, 5.5 sacks, and three pass deflections. His tackles were fourth most while he was also the leader on the defense in sacks.

DeJean was second-team All-Big Ten in 2022 while Newton was first-team. Now, both should be wreaking havoc again on conference offenses once things kick off in the league in just a few weeks.

Harrison Jr. overwhelmingly named Big Ten Preseason Offensive Player of the Year

Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. was overwhelmingly named the Big Ten Preseason Offensive Player of the Year by voters in the 13th annual cleveland.com Preseason Big Ten Football Poll.

This comes, in many ways, despite Harrison Jr.’s position. Honors like this are typically given to a quarterback. However, in a year where several teams in the Big Ten are going to be relying on first-year starters at quarterback, there was a gap for another position to win the honor. On top of that, Harrison Jr. is widely regarded as one of the best players in all of college football.

In 2022, Harrison Jr. dominated. He snagged 77 receptions for 1,263 yards and 14 touchdowns despite opposing defenses scheming against him.

In the poll, Harrison Jr. was named on 35 of 37 ballots, receiving 27 first-place votes. That was good for 94 points overall. That was more than the combined total of the second and third-place vote-getters in Michigan’s JJ McCarthy and Blake Corum.