ESPN has thrown out their All Decade Team from the Big Ten.

Here is the offensive team…the commentaries are mine, and I am looking to see if more Hawkeyes should have been included.

OFFENSE

QB: Troy Smith, Ohio State:

I guess he did win a Heisman.  I wish Drew Brees had played more than one year in the decade because I would have gone with him.  Smith had a great season but he had a ton of talent around him.  How about Antwan Randle-El of Indiana?  Probably not.  Drew Tate is Top 10 in touchdown passes for a career and he played entirely in this decade.  I suspect he is in the Top 5 or so of Big Ten QB’s as far as passing yards are concerned for the decade and he won a Big Ten title…but it didn’t end as well as it started.
RB: Mike Hart, Michigan
RB: Larry Johnson, Penn State

Larry Johnson had the best individual season of any running back of the decade and Mike Hart might have had the best career of any Big Ten back during the decade.  Tough to argue these two selections, though Shonn Greene’s 2008 season totals puts him right on the edge.
WR: Braylon Edwards, Michigan
WR: Charles Rogers, Michigan State

Iowa really hasn’t had many receivers through the years that one could make a case for on a list like this.  While DJK is likely going to break Iowa’s receiving yards and receptions records next year for a career, it seems like Michigan produces a player like that every two years.
TE: Dallas Clark, Iowa

This was a no brainer, and I am glad to see Rittenberg of ESPN make the call here.  While Clark wasn’t a great blocker (he wasn’t a bad blocker, either) his 95 yard touchdown play against Purdue in 2002 probably made him millions of dollars in signing bonus on his first contract.  That singular play, backed up by consistency, put Clark on a path to where he is today.  I think he’d tell you the same thing.

C: Greg Eslinger, Minnesota
OL: Joe Thomas, Wisconsin
OL: Robert Gallery, Iowa
OL: Jake Long, Michigan
OL: Eric Steinbach, Iowa

A great collection here and it’s really tough to argue.  We are talking about a hundred or so guys to choose from here, realistically.  Greg Eslinger was certainly the standard at center, but Iowa had two of the leagues best of the decade in Bruce Nelson and Rob Bruggeman.  Bruggeman’s play in 2008 was just stellar.  Riley Reiff might make next decade’s list. Bryan Bulaga will probably get drafted in the first round and rightfully is not on the list.  This is an elite crew.

Now on to the Defense…

DE: LaMarr Woodley, Michigan
DT: Wendell Bryant, Wisconsin
DT: Jared Odrick, Penn State
DE: Tamba Hali, Penn State

I think Odrick is overrated here.  He is a great player, don’t get me wrong, and he had a solid career.  But he never flashed the way Jonathon Babineaux did in 2004.  Babs had 25 tackles for loss that year, better than all but one player in the nation and that player played at Marshall.  There are several notable players that didn’t make this list, which there are scores of talented stars to choose from.  No Matt Roth, no Mitch King.  But it’s tough to make a list like this.

LB: Paul Posluzsny, Penn State
LB: A.J. Hawk, Ohio Sate
LB: James Laurinaitis, Ohio State

I mean, the Big Ten produces the best linebackers year in and year out, at least for my money.  I’d love to make a case for Chad Greenway, Abdul Hodge, Pat Angerer, A.J. Edds, Fred Barr and others…but the three that Rittenberg came up with are hard to argue.  However, Iowa’s linebacker play in the past decade is among the Top 20 in the sport.

CB: Jamar Fletcher, Wisconsin
CB: Malcolm Jenkins, Ohio State

It’s unlikely that you are going to see too many cornerbacks from Iowa make a list like this, but Iowa is in the midst of their best players at this position in some time.  Bradley Fletcher went in the third round last year, Amari Spievey probably won’t fall beyond that round this year.  Iowa feels like Micah Hyde is a star in the making and Shawn Prater is real good, too…the depth at this position is as good as it has been at Iowa in a looooong time.

S: Bob Sanders, Iowa
S: Mike Doss, Ohio State

We will see another nine decades of football in this century (well, we won’t see them all) and Sanders may wind up making the all century team.

Now, onto specialists

K: Mike Nugent, Ohio State
P: Travis Dorsch, Purdue
Returners: Ted Ginn Jr., Ohio State and Steve Breaston, Michigan

It was either going to be Nugent or Kaeding.  Nate the Great left Iowa as the most accurate kicker in college football history from beyond 40 yards, and he was the most accurate kicker in NFL history until last week’s playoff game against the Jets.  Nugent?  He was real good too.  Coin flip IMO and since Ohio State has a bigger fanbase than Iowa and therefore more clicks for ESPN, they go with Nugent

If ESPN had done something like this in the 1990′s, Tim Dwight makes the list as one of the return specialists.

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