Breaking Down the Top Candidates For Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year

Coming into this season, there was no question as to who was the best offensive player in the Big Ten.

Ohio State's Braxton Miller was the back-to-back Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and was set for a bigger and better senior season leading the Buckeyes. But when Miller went down during an Aug. 18 practice and was ruled out for the season with a torn labrum, the entire landscape of the conference changed.

The league and college football fans as a whole miss watching Miller, but while the Big Ten  has gotten off to a rough start to this season, you'd be hard-pressed to find a coach around the country who would turn down some of its top skill players.

Nebraska's Ameer Abdullah, Michigan State's Connor Cook, Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon, Penn State's Christian Hackenberg and Indiana's Tevin Coleman are some of the top performers in the league so far and rightfully so. Each has already had a chance to shine in the spotlight for their respective teams thus far.

And with Miller no longer in the picture, there will be a new Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year this season, so Eleven Warriors took a look at who the top candidates are to take that spot because it's never to early to do so.

Ameer Abdullah

There aren't many running backs in the country better than Abdullah. He's a true all-around runner who has already shown flashes of brilliance this season, most notably on his game-winning touchdown against McNeese State.

Abduallah is averaging 132 yards per game on the ground this year to go with three rushing touchdowns. He's also got 105 receiving yards and a touchdown, but ask his head coach about him and the impact seems to go much deeper than the gaudy numbers.

"His versatility, first of all. he does everything well. There's really no weakness in his game," Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said Tuesday on the Big Ten coaches teleconference. "He can do it all and that's rare. He can pass protect, he can catch the ball out of the backfield, he can run inside, he can run outside. He's very versatile and a complete back."

Connor Cook

Cook came on strong at the end of last season as the starting quarterback for Michigan State.

He was named MVP of the Big Ten championship game after throwing for 304 yards and three touchdowns in a win over Ohio State and followed up that performance with a 332-yard, two-touchdown day against Stanford in the Rose Bowl.

This season, Cook played well for three quarters in the Spartans' loss to Oregon, but the Ducks ended up pulling away in the fourth quarter.

Despite already having an early loss, though, Cook remains one of the top quarterbacks in not only the Big Ten, but the country, as well.

"Connor is a guy that earned the quarterback position last year. He did an outstanding job in leading us to the Big Ten championship and Rose Bowl where he was the MVP of both games," Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said. "This year, he's got two games under his belt and I think he's still growing as a football player."

"He's leading, he's got a great arm, he's got a quick release and my feeling is that he still has room to grow and that's what's so exciting about this. I think he's a very good player with the ability to be resilient. He can move around the pocket and make plays and really I think the sky's the limit for him."

Melvin Gordon

By his lofty standards, Gordon is off to somewhat of a slow start this season. The 6-foot-1, 207-pound junior has rushed for 178 yards and one touchdown this season through two games after gaining more than 1,600 yards on the ground a year ago while splitting carries with James White.

This year, Gordon is the guy for the Badgers. He was inexplicably on the sidelines as Wisconsin blew a late lead in Week 1 to LSU, but he's also a guy who will be a huge part of the Badgers' pursuit for a Big Ten title this season.

"It's great to have Melvin. I've said this many times, he's a tremendous teammate, he's a tremendous player. He's looking forward to this season, continuing to move forward," Wisconsin coach Gary Andersen said. "... He's excited about the opportunity to get out there and compete. He has some high, lofty goals for himself and we do also. He's a true feature back and a very talented young man and a terrific, terrific teammate. We're looking forward to watching him as we move forward."

Christian Hackenberg

The Big Ten's Freshman of the Year a season ago, Hackenberg is aiming to become Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in 2014 while attempting to guide Penn State to a conference title, something they just became eligible for last week.

He ranks No. 7 in the country in passing yards per game with 361 and his strong performance is something first-year head coach James Franklin is extremely happy to have inherited.

"Christian's got tremendous belief in himself and he's also willing to sacrifice to be special," Franklin said. "It's very, very important to him and I think that shows up on Saturdays."

Tevin Coleman

A darkhorse in this race is definitely Coleman, who is coming off an injury-plagued season that caused him to miss the final three games of last year.

But through this season's first two games, there isn't a player in the country who is rushing for more yards per game than Coleman, who is averaging 218.5 per contest. He's also scored five times.

Those numbers should come down a bit once league play kicks in and Indiana's league record by the end of the year won't do Coleman any favors, but his performance is hard to ignore just a few weeks into the season

"He's just kind of played the way he plays. He played that way last year, had 900 and some yards and didn't play the last three games and a quarter so he missed 13 quarters," Indiana coach Kevin Wilson said. "He's decent size, good speed, plays hard. We need more guys to play like him."