Making this year’s All-Big Ten team will be harder than it’s ever been before.
With Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington joining the conference, each Big Ten school’s stars will have to compete with players from 17 other schools at their respective positions to earn a spot on the All-Big Ten team.
That makes it extra challenging to predict which conference standouts will earn All-Big Ten honors in 2024. But just as I have before Big Ten Media Days every year since I’ve joined the staff at Eleven Warriors, I’m taking my best shot at mapping out what the All-Big Ten first team will look like at the end of the upcoming campaign.
Even with 17 other teams now in the conference, it’s a good bet that Ohio State will be well-represented on the All-Big Ten team – as it usually is – with all the star power the Buckeyes enter the season with on both sides of the ball. But there are many other excellent players throughout the conference that left me with plenty of tough decisions on who would make the cut on my preseason All-Big Ten team.
In total, this year’s Eleven Warriors preseason All-Big Ten team includes seven Buckeyes, five Michigan Wolverines, three Oregon Ducks, two players each from Iowa, Minnesota and USC and one player each from Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue and Rutgers.
My preseason All-Big Ten team is intended to be forward-looking rather than a career achievement award. While players who have earned all-conference honors (in the Big Ten or elsewhere) in previous years received strong consideration, the players included on the team are the ones who I expect to be the Big Ten’s top performers at their position this year regardless of what they have accomplished in past years.
Fourteen of the 25 players on my preseason All-Big Ten team have gone on to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors in each of the last two years. Can I keep the positive vibes with another above-.500 effort in 2024? Here are my best guesses at who the Big Ten’s best will be this year.
QB: Dillon Gabriel, Oregon
Gabriel beat out Will Howard for first-team All-Big 12 honors at quarterback last season. He completed 69.3% of his passes for 3,660 yards and 30 touchdowns with only six interceptions at Oklahoma in 2023. While he’ll face better defenses in the Big Ten, I like his chances of putting up big numbers again as he joins an Oregon offense that led the nation in passing yards per game a year ago and remains loaded with talent.
Gabriel is the only quarterback in the Big Ten who threw for more than 3,000 yards at the FBS level last season.
RB: TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State
RB: Donovan Edwards, Michigan
Ohio State has two of the best running backs in the country in Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, but they’ll have plenty of competition for the two running back spots on the All-Big Ten first team as they split carries with one another. While I expect both Buckeye tailbacks to have excellent years, I’m going with Henderson to be the conference’s most explosive runner en route to earning first-team All-B1G honors for the second year in a row.
Edwards had a disappointing 2023 season statistically, running for only 497 yards on 119 carries, but he showed how dangerous he can be as he ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries in Michigan’s national championship game win over Washington. He’s in line for a much larger workload this year now that Blake Corum is in the NFL, and I expect him to put up big numbers as both a rusher and receiver as the star of an otherwise inexperienced Michigan offense.
Other All-Big Ten contenders at one of the conference’s most loaded positions include Rutgers’ Kyle Monangai (the Big Ten’s leading rusher in 2023), Penn State’s Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton and Oregon’s Jordan James and Noah Whittington.
WR: Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State
WR: Evan Stewart, Oregon
It’s tempting to put Jeremiah Smith on here with how impressive he was this spring, but a 2025 All-Big Ten selection in his sophomore year might be a more realistic projection. Egbuka is expected to be the top dog in Ohio State’s receiving corps this season now that Marvin Harrison Jr. is in the NFL, and he’s in the running to be the best receiver in the entire country.
Like Egbuka, Stewart looked poised to be one of the nation’s best receivers last year until his season was derailed by injury. As he makes the move from Texas A&M into what should be one of the nation’s most prolific offenses at Oregon, the five-star prospect from the 2022 class could be Egbuka’s top competition for Big Ten Receiver of the Year honors.
Fellow Oregon receiver Tez Johnson is also a top candidate for All-Big Ten honors after catching a school-record 86 passes for 1,182 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2023, but I’m betting on the upside of Stewart to emerge as one of the conference’s two best wideouts in 2024.
Emeka Egbuka looks to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors as a senior after making the second team in 2022 and the third team in 2023.
TE: Colston Loveland, Michigan
The only other returning star from last year’s Michigan offense, Loveland was already one of the nation’s best tight ends in 2023 as he caught 45 passes for 649 yards and four touchdowns. The 2023 first-team All-Big Ten coaches’ selection should play an even bigger role for the Wolverines this year as their likely top receiving threat and a crucial security blanket for whoever wins Michigan’s quarterback competition.
While I ultimately couldn’t pick against Loveland, I expect him to face serious competition for All-Big Ten honors from Iowa’s Luke Lachey – the son of Ohio State offensive line great Jim Lachey – who looked well on his way to becoming Iowa’s next star tight end until he suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the Hawkeyes’ third game last season. Penn State’s Tyler Warren is another tight end to watch as he earned third-team All-Big Ten honors last season and should see an increased workload this year with Theo Johnson now in the NFL. Like Loveland, both of them could be the top target in the passing game for their respective teams this season.
OT: Aireontae Ersery, Minnesota
OT: Ajani Cornelius, Oregon
Ersery was already one of the best offensive tackles in college football last year, earning the fifth-highest Pro Football Focus grade among all starting OTs as he allowed just 15 total quarterback pressures (two sacks) while bulldozing defenders in the run game with his 6-foot-6, 330-pound frame. He could be an All-American in 2024 if he can build on last year’s success in his third season as the Gophers’ starting left tackle.
I considered both Oregon offensive tackles for the second spot on the preseason All-Big Ten team. Josh Conerly Jr. also ranks among the nation’s best edge protectors as Oregon’s starting left tackle, but Cornelius – who Ohio State fans might remember from the Buckeyes’ efforts to recruit him out of the transfer portal a year ago – is the more dominant run blocker and did not allow a single sack in his first year at Oregon.
G: Donovan Jackson, Ohio State
G: Josh Priebe, Michigan
Jackson earned first-team All-Big Ten honors for the second straight year in 2023 even though he was not immune to the struggles that plagued Ohio State’s entire offensive line last year, so I’ll really like his chances of becoming a three-time All-Big Ten guard if he plays up to his full potential and leads the way for a better season for Ohio State’s 2024 offensive line.
Priebe earned third-team All-Big Ten honors last year at Northwestern and is now set to play in a bigger spotlight as he becomes the leader of a Michigan offensive line with a brand-new starting lineup from last year’s championship unit.
Other All-Big Ten contenders at guard include Minnesota’s Tyler Cooper (one of the nation’s best pass-protecting guards in 2023), Penn State’s Sal Wormley and Iowa’s Connor Colby and Nick DeJong (both third-team All-Big Ten guards a year ago).
C: Jonah Monheim, USC
Even though Monheim was an elite pass protector as USC’s starting right tackle in 2022 and left tackle in 2023, allowing just two sacks in two seasons, Monheim considers center to be his natural position. If his move to the middle goes as expected, Monheim should be the Big Ten’s best center and could be a Rimington Trophy contender.
Iowa’s Logan Jones (a third-team All-Big Ten pick last year) and Purdue’s Gus Hartwig also garnered consideration as the Big Ten’s top two returning centers from 2023.
DL: Mason Graham, Michigan
DL: Jack Sawyer, Ohio State
DL: Abdul Carter, Penn State
DL: Tyleik Williams, Ohio State
Graham is widely viewed as college football’s best defensive tackle entering the 2024 season, and Williams isn’t far behind him. Sawyer looked like an All-American in Ohio State’s final three games of last season as he recorded 7.5 tackles for loss with five sacks, and I expect him to build off last year’s strong finish for a huge senior season. Carter, a first-team All-Big Ten linebacker last season with a similar skill set to former Penn State star Micah Parsons, should be fully unleashed as a pass rusher this year as he makes the move from LB to defensive end.
It’s hard to leave JT Tuimoloau off this list considering the Ohio State defensive end is already a two-time first-team All-B1G honoree, but that speaks to how loaded the Big Ten is with elite defensive linemen this season. Dani Dennis-Sutton is another dynamic Penn State edge rusher who I wouldn’t be surprised to see push for All-Big Ten honors, too.
LB: Jay Higgins, Iowa
LB: Nick Jackson, Iowa
LB: Mohamed Toure, Rutgers
Iowa may have the best linebacker tandem in the entire country this year. Higgins led the FBS with a whopping 171 tackles last season and is also an elite coverage linebacker, while Jackson is a rare fifth-year starter who’s been a second-team or third-team all-conference honoree in either the ACC or Big Ten in all four of his years as a starter at Virginia and Iowa.
I considered several other linebackers for the third spot including Oregon’s Jeffrey Bassa, Michigan’s Jaishawn Barham, Northwestern’s Xander Mueller and Washington’s Alphonzo Tuputala, but ultimately sided with Toure, a converted defensive end who should be even better in his second year as a linebacker after recording 93 tackles with 9.5 tackles for loss last season.
Jay Higgins enters 2024 as the Big Ten’s best linebacker after recording a nation-leading 171 tackles last season. (Photo: Mark Hoffman/USA TODAY Network)
DB: Will Johnson, Michigan
DB: Denzel Burke, Ohio State
DB: Caleb Downs, Ohio State
DB: Dillon Thieneman, Purdue
Johnson and Burke are arguably college football’s two best cornerbacks while Downs was arguably already the nation’s best safety last year as a true freshman at Alabama, so all of them were easy choices for the All-Big Ten secondary.
The fourth choice was a more difficult one with Iowa safety Xavier Nwankpa and nickelback Sebastian Castro, Wisconsin safety Hunter Wohler, Oregon cornerback Jabbar Muhammad and Penn State safety Kevin Winston Jr. also drawing consideration. But I couldn’t leave off Thieneman, the best freshman safety not named Caleb Downs in college football last season as he recorded 106 tackles and six interceptions in his first year at Purdue.
K: Dragan Kesich, Minnesota
Kesich was one of the best kickers in the country on both field goals and kickoffs last season, making 23 of 27 field goal attempts – including three field goals of 50-plus yards and eight field goals of 40-plus yards – while ranking second in the nation with an average of 64.71 yards per kickoff. His booming leg will make him a strong candidate to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors for the second year in a row.
Other Big Ten kickers to watch include Wisconsin’s Nathanial Vakos and Iowa’s Drew Stevens, who were both Lou Groza Award semifinalists last season, and Michigan’s Dominic Zvada, who also had eight field goals of 40-plus yards last season at Arkansas State.
P: Ryan Eckley, Michigan State
Eckley was the Big Ten’s second-best punter last season, averaging 46.8 yards per punt to finish eighth in the country in punting average. With former Iowa star Tory Taylor now in the NFL, the door is open for Eckley to make a run at All-Big Ten honors in his second year as Michigan State’s starting punter.
Iowa’s Rhys Dakin could be a candidate to follow in Taylor’s footsteps by winning Big Ten Punter of the Year honors as a freshman, but I sided with the more proven punter given that Dakin – an Australian like Taylor – has never punted in an American football game.
RET: Zachariah Branch, USC
The only player in the entire FBS with both a kickoff return touchdown and a punt return touchdown last season, Branch immediately emerged as the nation’s best punt returner as a freshman, leading college football’s highest division with an average of 22.1 yards per punt return.
Branch could be a player to watch in the All-Big Ten race at wide receiver this season, too, but he’s the clear frontrunner for All-Big Ten return specialist honors with his excellence as both a punt and kick returner.
