Big Ten Blog

Big Ten well represented on Butkus watch list

August, 21, 2009

8/21/09

6:00

PM ET

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

Linebacker once again figures to be one of the Big Ten's strongest positions, as the league boasts one of the nation's best tandems (Penn State's Navorro Bowman and Sean Lee) and several other standouts.

Seven Big Ten players appear on the preseason watch list for the Butkus Award, given to the nation's top linebacker. Ohio State's James Laurinaitis was the last Big Ten player to win the award (2007), and six Big Ten players have won since 1994.

Here are this year's candidates:

Iowa's Pat Angerer
Penn State's Navorro Bowman
Iowa's A.J. Edds
Michigan's Obi Ezeh
Michigan State's Greg Jones (Big Ten Preseason Defensive Player of the Year)
Penn State's Sean Lee
Illinois' Martez Wilson

I fully expected to see Angerer, Bowman, Jones and Lee make the list. It's nice to see Edds and Ezeh get some recognition as well. Edds quietly had a strong 2008 season, and Ezeh was one of few bright spots for Michigan last fall. Wilson's enormous potential landed him on the preseason watch list for the second straight year. He knows the time has come to produce, and I think he'll come through for the Illini.

If Indiana's Matt Mayberry puts up some big numbers early this fall, he should gain consideration as well.

Adam Rittenberg | email

College Football

ESPN.com Big Ten blogger
Joined ESPN.com in 2008
Wrote for Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald

Tags:

Big Ten Conference, Navorro Bowman, Sean Lee, Martez Wilson, Obi Ezeh, A.J. Edds, Matt Mayberry, Pat Angerer, James Laurinaitis, Big Ten Conference, Greg Jones

You must be signed in to post a comment

You are fully responsible for the content you post. Content that includes profanity, personal attacks or antisocial behavior (such as "spamming" or "trolling"), or other inappropriate content or material will be removed. We reserve the right to block any user who violates our terms of use, including removing all content posted by that user.

ABOUT THIS BLOG

Adam Rittenberg

Rittenberg joined ESPN.com in 2008 after four years at the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald, where he covered sports at Notre Dame, Northwestern, DePaul and several other colleges. He lives in Chicago.

Brian Bennett

Bennett joined ESPN.com in August 2008 after nine years at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., where he covered college sports and the University of Louisville beat. He lives in Louisville.

SUBSCRIBE:

Subscribe to this blog's RSS Follow this blog on Twitter

Big Ten Blog