Four Buckeyes land on preseason Big Ten honors list
INDIANAPOLIS — Ohio State has already been tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the Big Ten. The annual Cleveland.com media poll showed as much.
Now the league is putting out their official list of preseason honors, and the Buckeyes are all over it. More Buckeyes are on the list than any other Big Ten program. Ohio State has four of its superstars on the list, one more than Michigan and two more than Big Ten newcomer. Just six of the 18 Big Ten schools have at least one player on the 12-man list.
For the Buckeyes, those four are senior wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, senior running back TreVeyon Henderson, senior defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau and second-year safety Caleb Downs.
Notable snubs from the list include senior defensive end Jack Sawyer and senior defensive back Denzel Burke, among others. Of course, no offensive linemen — from any school — are on the honor list.
The other eight star players from around the league to earn preseason honors are:
Iowa linebacker Jay Higgins
Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham
Michigan defensive back Will Johnson
Michigan tight end Colston Loveland
Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel
Oregon wide receiver Tez Johnson
Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter
Rutgers running back Kyle Monangai
Big Ten preseason poll revealed
Ohio State hasn’t been at the top of the Big Ten in three seasons; rival Michigan has won the last three conference titles.
But the media believes this is finally the year the Buckeyes will get back on top of the league. Yes, it’s preseason poll season, and Cleveland.com‘s annual preseason media poll of the Big Ten standings were released Monday ahead of Big Ten Media Days this week in Indianapolis.
Ohio State is at the top, receiving 21 of the 27 first-place votes. Oregon received the other six votes and is second in the preseason poll. The top five is rounded out by Penn State, Michigan and Iowa.
Big Ten newcomers are Oregon (No. 2), USC (No. 6), Washington (No. 10) and UCLA (No. 15).
Ohio State will face each of the other four teams in the top five this season, making this one of the toughest conference schedules the Big Ten could possibly throw at the Buckeyes.
