Early Season Superlatives | B1G Today

counting down to kickoff ruter opens the season early they've got a Thursday game here on the Big 10 Network head coach Greg shano already the winningest head coach in ruter program history expectations on campus are pretty darn high for the Scarlet Knights this year and with good reason their schedule is favorable they got the all returning leader and rushing yards from last year in the Big 10 Kyle manun guy so with that in mind we're going to turn to basically an award segment for you I'm going to throw out some categories you're going to tell me who it is and this is clever producing because we're starting off with who you think will be the coach of the year and it is I I believe it'll be Greg sieno from ruter and the reason why is is not because I think ruter is going to win the Big 10 conference there's some other coaches in the Big 10 who would likely need to win the entire conference to be awarded Big 10 Coach of the Year Ryan day or Dan Lanning and they may end up doing that with their amazing teams but the growth pattern that we've seen Ruckers experiencing here in recent years years the trajectory of where their program has begun to go leads me to believe this going to be the best season in this iteration of Greg shano at ruter and if they end up being a nine or a 10- win squad or something like that how could you not consider Greg xano for Coach of the Year especially because some of their key players on that amazing defense are banged up during the off season and make a key acquisition at QB but if everything kind of comes together in a way I think it might for Ruckers shano is going to be my guy yeah Mohamad ter a big part of that defense won't be with this season due to an early injury if they can overcome that and win like you said n games feels realistic for the Scarlet Knights which is saying something next up your offensive player of the year almost always it goes to a quarterback usually most of the time to Ohio State who you going with uh this one might surprise folks but I I was swayed a bit by what I heard Luke fickle saying in Indianapolis at Big 10 football media days because the the offensive line for Wisconsin which was a lot of the storyline last year where folks wondered why the Run game didn't look exactly like we anticipated it would for much of the Season he took a very physical approach over this offseason and the return of chesma Lucy to the lineup healthy I believe he's going to have a fantastic season and what he'll be able to do in making sure that his quarterback the new quarterback Tyler van djk won't have too much pressure on his shoulders there's enough experience at returns but as much as anything the approach from Phil Longo I think will lead to chz Lucy who when he's been healthy man he has been so combustible as a talent in the open field and the the fer that he runs with the offensive line feeds off of that and so I I think on the whole if there's any one player in the conference that will impact the success and failure of his team it's hard to argue in my opinion that there's anyone more impactful than chz meoi I did not see that coming man I if you had 25 other people who study the Big 10 like you do how many of them would pick maloi you think as player there right that's a fascinating pick now you mentioned he has been injured three straight years he's been injured you're not worried about that coming up a fourth year worried I'm pensive about it but I mean he's put in all the work all the requisite work you want to put in over the off season and we've seen stories like this before where the player has that last best opportunity to sort of seize the moment and when he's been out there he is exceptional as a talent as a runner and because the program on the whole feeds off of chz mosy in that way I do think that a healthy version of him can be the Big 10 offensive player of the year and yes I'm expecting him to be able to maintain health and he will have a running back made in the back that will share some of the load with him right yeah man that's I mean even a running back I would have thought oh maybe he's going to go Donovan Edwards or maybe trevan Henderson all right keep the tape yes producer Rob keep the tape let's bring this back in December and see if you are right how about Defensive Player of the Year in the Big 10 who's it going to be this to me is a fun one because there are so many amazing options in this conference for Big 10 defensive player of the year but when you kind of factor in the scheme match with the talent match with some of the storyline that would go I'm going with Abdul Carter from my big 10 defense player of the year because he's a guy who you know we know how amazing he's been he's been all big 10 multiple times a lot of preseason All America accolades going into this fall but then the storyline of him switching positions where he had been an incredible off-ball linebacker in that attacking Style with Manny Diaz leading the way we see him making plays in pass coverage the blitz ability that he showcased wearing the sticks folks know what that means in State College so now moving up to what a more primarily you know not at all times not 100% of the time but being a edge Defender being more of a defensive end within the scheme of Tom Allen he's still going to have that same attack and we've seen him showcase a variety of pass rush moves that I think will very much suit the defensive end position and the way he can attack the opposing back field so it's going to be a defense Litter with Talent already so I do believe Abdul Carter because he's a known commodity as a playmaker and the position switched when folks see him making plays they're going to go Gaga over it well I mentioned yesterday I think he's the most exciting defense player in the Big 10 you mentioned today you think he'll be the best defensive player in the Big 10 well done freshman of the year there's a few intriguing names who's it going to be because of part of the discussion we had earlier I mean there's a lot of pressure on the shoulders of the quarterback position in Lincoln and I believe Dylan riola is prepared to seize that moment the maturity that we were talking about a bit earlier in the show matters a lot in this regard because if you're going to be a freshman Player of the Year in the Big 10 conference it can be a running back more frequently or a wide receiver where there's you know maybe some volume to the reception opportunities that you get certainly considered multiple other guys here but I do anticipate highle play from Dylan riola you know maybe not to the extent of some of the veterans in this in this conference but he's one of the highest regarded recruits in Nebraska's had in decades and especially to be at the quarterback position they've accentuated and enhanced the talent that'll be around him as well and Matt Ruland talking to him he Marvels at the maturity not just the the sort of maturity and interacting with people and showing up early in the morning but the maturity of his game Dylan riola as a quarterback some of the pre- snap recognition some of the things he does mechanically are Beyond his years so I do believe we'll see a guy behind center for the Huskers that is going to be in a position to make plays we'll see him grow and mature throughout the season and play at a level I believe he'll win this award he is the highest ranked Husker recruit in the internet era higher than Dakin Su or anybody else they've had I will say Jeremiah Smith is the number one overall recruit and the reason you didn't take him I assume is cuz he's got so many other wide receivers might he's going to share the load a lot he's going to have his fair share of highlights but it'll be a shared sort of highlight package that he'll have with other Ohio State players every year in the Big 10 there is a game so special it's called the game it is Ohio State Michigan I'm not letting you pick that so outside of that what's going to be the Game of the Year this year Well we will see fairly early in the season two teams who are in the championship picture not just the Big 10 Championship picture but the national championship picture when Ohio State travels to Eugene faces the Oregon Ducks we don't have a catchy nickname for it but we have seen the Ducks and the Bucks match up on ducks and Bucks the duck and buck Bowl I don't know we got to figure out something the agricultural Bowl who knows what we'll call it but that's going to be the game of the year because of the implications going into it and then frankly we may see it a second time later in the Big 10 championship game we may even see it a third time in the college football playoff who knows but that first time we see it and the magnitude of what that game will feel like going in knowing that everyone at Alton stadium is going to be a fever pitch with Ohio State coming to town then yes I believe when you look at the whole scope of the Season that will be the game of the year that is not named the game bucks and Ducks we'll call it the dollar bill Bowl bucks dollar bill duck by the way uh that same day you also have Penn State at USC and Washington at Iowa that's going to be unbelievable Week Big 10 football most improved team in the Big 10 this year is going to be I'm surprised more folks haven't gotten on the Purdue sort of bandwagon yet or ride in that boil the maker train because we've seen a lot of talent acquired over the offseason by Ryan Walters and for him in his second season you think back to the time that he was in Champagne as a defensive coordinator the first season for that Illinois defense didn't look so good first season for his Missouri defense didn't look so great when he was there either but year two was when he had started to sort of Stack those chips build those bricks and I anticipate something similar happening with Purdue's defense in this this particular season but he's also got Hudson card as a returning starter at quarterback yes they've lost a lot of talent at wide receiver in the transfer portal but they have added some as well and he's got a system led by his offensive coordinator Graham Herold that will put up yards that will put up points so I think you'll now see a more complete version of Purdue and that completion will be accentuated by the fact that we saw the best bowler makers Run game last year that we've seen in years so I love the fact that now Ryan Walters will have new Talent fresh talent and a system in place that'll have continuity and they added Reggie love the Illinois leading running back last year to go with makabe this year if that defense can make a big jump forward from the 30 points per game they allowed last year I love that Purdue could be really fun to watch this season so that were your Awards your preseason awards from Miss Heron but what about his power rankings in the Big 10 that is coming up in moments