The Big Ten doesn’t do traditional preseason polls, but it does release an annual Players to Watch list.
With Big Ten Media Days coming up in short order, the conference has released its 2013 edition of the list, which includes five players from each division. They are as follows:
LEGENDS DIVISION
-- Michigan QB Devin Gardner
-- Michigan OT Taylor Lewan
-- Michigan State LB Max Bullough
-- Nebraska QB Taylor Martinez
-- Northwestern RB Venric Mark
LEADERS DIVISION
-- Ohio State QB Braxton Miller
-- Ohio State CB Bradley Roby
-- Ohio State LB Ryan Shazier
-- Penn State LB Allen Robinson
-- Wisconsin LB Chris Borland
As you can see, the conference thinks highly of Michigan and Ohio State, the two of which combine for half of the list. (Miller was a unanimous decision). On the flip side, five teams -- Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota and Purdue -- aren’t featured at all. Of course, these preseason lists are 100 percent accurate and should be taken as absolute truth. That’s why July is the best college football month out of the year.