Predicting the 2023 All-Big Ten First Team offense this season
While much of the football offseason happenings currently surround upcoming seasons and recruiting, teams are in the midst of gearing up for the 2023 season. Early September kickoffs are fast approaching, and some of the Big Ten's best are loaded with the talent to make noise this fall.
Over the next couple of days, we'll lay out the possible candidates for the Big Ten's All-Conference First Team from all across the conference, as well as a nod for where Indiana players could land in the conversation.
Up first is the offense:
QUARTERBACK
J.J. McCarthy, Michigan
As a whole, the Big Ten will have a lot of new faces in new places taking snaps behind the center this fall. One of the few constants to return with their team this season, McCarthy is poised for a big jump in production and is one of the best quarterbacks in the country ahead of this season.
After winning the job over new Hawkeye quarterback Cade McNamara early in the 2022 season, McCarthy's 208-of-322 completed passes for just over 2,700 yards and 22 scores – plus 300-plus yards rushing and five more touchdowns of his own – netted him an All-Big Ten Third Team accolade. Michigan beat Ohio State, won the Big Ten Championship game and appeared in the College Football Playoff for the second consecutive year last season, thanks in part to the fierce running game the Wolverines possessed to pair with McCarthy's play.
If Michigan has plans of a three-peat, they'll expect stellar play from McCarthy.
IN CONTENTION: Taulia Tagovailoa, Maryland; Kyle McCord *OR* Devin Brown, Ohio State
Tagovailoa earned a Second Team nod last season, sharing the honor with Purdue's Aidan O'Connell. The Terps' QB figures to be one of the conference's best once again this season.
Neither McCord or Brown have taken a snap for the Buckeyes yet, but the named QB1 will be surrounded by an embarrassment of riches to throw to. They're at least in the conversation.
RUNNING BACK
Blake Corum, Michigan; Braelon Allen, Wisconsin
Corum was, in most cases, one of the most efficient and productive running backs across the entire sport last season, taking the majority of the load in that vaunted running Wolverine offense that powered them all season long. He's a returning unanimous first team All-American, and many in Ann Arbor likely didn't expect Corum back for his senior season. It's very likely that Corum begins and ends the season as the nation's top running back.
Allen is the latest in a long line of fantastic Badger running backs, posting nearly identical 1,200-plus yard seasons in his freshman and sophomore seasons in Madison. Last year, he became the fifth-fastest running back in Wisconsin program history to reach 2,000 yards.
Competition for the second spot will be steep, but under a Luke Fickell-powered offense, Allen could see his game elevate as the team around him does.
IN CONTENTION: Nick Singleton, Penn State; Treveyon Henderson, Ohio State; Donovan Edwards, Michigan, Kaytron Allen, Penn State; Miyan Williams, Ohio State
Singleton was electric during his first season in State College, following the hype surrounding his highly-touted status out of high school. Expect him to be near the top of the conference as well. Singleton and Allen are arguably the best-running back room in the country.
Henderson's production will be reliant on his health, but he could be one of the sport's best should he be 100 percent this fall. The Buckeye offense would certainly appreciate it. Williams also struggled with health last season, but he's a bruiser and could find his way on the team.
Corum received most of the Michigan rushing attention last season, but Edwards ran for 991 yards a year ago for the Wolverines.
WIDE RECEIVER
Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State; Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State
This should come as no surprise given the success the Buckeyes have had with their receivers and production. Each season, it seems a machine in Columbus churns out another former five-star that is incredibly productive out of nowhere. No need for it this season, though – the Buckeyes return the conference's two best wideouts heading into the season.
Harrison Jr. will be a name to be familiar with on Sundays for a long time, especially so given the pedigree Jr. has from Sr. A finalist for the 2022 Biletnikoff award and All-Conference first team selection a season ago, carrying over his monstrous production from a season ago will be a tall task with a new quarterback to be catching passes from. Still, there should be little doubt as to who the best receiver in the conference – and quite possibly the entire country – is this season.
Egbuka is a no consolation prize, either. In any other system or season, he'd be the No. 1 receiver in the conference by a wide margin. It's not his fault he's got the insanely talented son of a Hall of Fame on the other side of the field from him, wearing the same jersey.
As mentioned earlier with McCord and Brown, the embarrassment of riches to throw to should make their lives pretty easy. That's a massive credit to Harrison Jr. and Egbuka.
IN CONTENTION: Isaiah Williams, Illinois; Tyrese Chambers, Maryland
Williams is back in Champaign for his fifth season, but just his third as a receiver. A dynamic threat in the open field, the Fighting Illini would do well to get him the ball early and often. That's the expectation.
Chambers, a transfer from Florida International, is hoping to return to his productive ways following inconsistent quarterback play last season with the Panthers that hampered his own game. With Tagovailoa at the helm in College Park, he should do so.
TIGHT END
Brevyn Spann-Ford, Minnesota
Spann-Ford is about as well-rounded and versatile as the tight end position gets.
First of all, his frame instantly jumps off the page: 6-foot-7, 270 pounds. Using Pro Football Focus' player grade system, Spann-Ford's 82.5 run-blocking and 82.1 receiving grades placed second-best and eighth-best across all of college football in 2022. He led the Gophers in receptions (42) and was an honorable mention in the conference last season, but all of four of the tight ends that made First, Second and Third team in 2022 now play in the NFL.
The Big Ten is a tight end's league. Spann-Ford projects to be the leader of the next crop.
IN CONTENTION: Cade Stover, Ohio State; Luke Lachey, Iowa
Stover's productive season last year in Columbus was the best statistical season for a Buckeye tight end since 1995, posting 36 receptions for 405 yards and five scores. He'll be often overlooked due to Harrison Jr. and Egbuka's prominence in the offense, but he'll be a force of his own.
Lachey's production suffered as the rest of the well-documented Iowa offense did a season ago, but a change at QB could spark a better season with the ball in the Hawkeyes' hands in Iowa City.
CENTER
Drake Nugent, Michigan
The Wolverines' offensive line is the back-to-back winners of the Joe Moore award, given each college football season to the best offensive line unit across the sport. Nugent is not one of the three returning starters as last year's starter Olu Owatami is no longer on the line, but the Stanford transfer figures to slot right into the conference's best line once again this season.
PFF's player grades awarded Nugent an 84.1 in run blocking last season, and is possibly the best-returning center across the entire sport.
IN CONTENTION: Gus Hartwig, Purdue; Nick Samac, Michigan State
Hartwig and Samac were both honorable mentions for All-Conference honors a season ago, one by the coaches and one by the media. With the graduations of many of the conference's top linemen to the NFL Draft, their path to contention is ahead of them.
GUARD
Zak Zinter, Michigan; Donovan Jackson, Ohio State
Zinter is the best offensive lineman returning to the conference, a consensus All-Conference first-team member a season ago. As the leader of the conference's best offensive line group, he'll be the next Wolverine offensive lineman to hear his name called in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Jackson and Michigan's Trevor Keegan are likely deadlocked in a two-horse race for the second spot on the conference's first team, as one took a spot on the coaches' team and the other took one on the media's roster. Jackson was the highest-rated offensive guard in the conference last season by PFF's metrics, but will have his work cut out for him and a feisty pack behind him gunning for the top spot as well. Jackson has garnered preseason All-American buzz, and the expectations for him will be tall once again.
IN CONTENTION: Trevor Keegan, Michigan; Matt Jones, Ohio State; Isaiah Adams, Illinois
The best football rivalry in the conference also produces some of the best linemen across the entire league. Keegan and Jones were both All-Conference Second Team members last season. Expect them to both be in the mix again this season. Adams was named Big Ten third-team by the press last season and was an honorable mention by the coaches.
TACKLE
Olumuyiwa Fashanu, Penn State; Jack Nelson, Wisconsin
Fashanu's return to Penn State this season means the Nittany Lions have a potential top-10 pick at tackle this season. Standing 6-foot-6 and 323 pounds, Fashanu was a Second Team selection a season ago, as well as a Walter Camp Second Team All-American and Phil Steele Third Team All-American. He's the best tackle the conference has to offer, and the 2024 NFL Draft could suggest he's the best in the entire country.
Nelson is the latest great offensive lineman to come from Wisconsin's NFL lineman factory – building off of two great seasons in Madison so far and a move to left tackle last season. Should new quarterback Tanner Mordecai be a successful feature in Fickell's offense, expect Nelson to anchor him on his blindside.
IN CONTENTION: Joe Huber, Wisconsin
Huber followed Fickell from Cincinnati to Wisconsin this season, where he earned his reputation as a solid tackle on the end of the Bearcat offensive line.
WHERE INDIANA PLAYERS FACTOR IN
Aside from special teams superstars such as Jaylin Lucas, Indiana only featured All-Conference honorable mentions last season – none of which were on offense.
Cam Camper likely would've been up for some sort of honors from the conference had he been able to stay healthy last season, at least earning one of those honorable mention titles. That's likely the ceiling for any member of this Indiana offense given the mass amounts of talent ahead of them, but Camper could reach that.
The same could be said for E.J. Williams, Dequece Carter or others, but it likely will be down to quarterback play.
Matthew Bedford, under new management with Bob Bostad at the position, could also ascend to that ceiling as the anchor of Indiana's offensive line, but the path is incredibly difficult. The turnaround will need to be immense for that to happen.
Any other Hoosiers to be named will likely require a breakout season in order to garner those honors on the offensive side of the ball this season.
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