2015 All-Big Ten Football Team: Rosters, Reaction and More

The Big Ten announced its all-conference football teams and individual award winners for defensive players and special teams aces on Monday through its official website.      

Headlining the accolade recipients were Penn State defensive end Carl Nassib, the Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year, and Michigan Wolverines all-purpose dynamo Jabrill Peppers as the Thompson-Randle El Freshman of the Year.

Check out the complete All-Big Ten Defensive Team (coaches) in the table below, as offensive players and other awards will be revealed on Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET. You can view the second- and third-team selections, as well as the media's choices, courtesy of BTN.com.   

Defense Pos.	Player
Specialist Pos.	Player
DL	Yannick Ngakoue, Maryland
DL	Shilique Calhoun, Michigan State
DL	Joey Bosa, Ohio State
DL	Carl Nassib, Penn State
LB	Anthony Walker Jr., Northwestern
LB	Joshua Perry, Ohio State
LB	Joe Schobert, Wisconsin
DB	Desmond King, Iowa
DB	William Likely, Maryland
DB	Jourdan Lewis, Michigan
DB	Jabrill Peppers, Michigan
K	Griffin Oakes, Indiana
P	Sam Foltz, Nebraska
Returner	William Likely, Maryland

BTN Live showed Nassib's reaction to his prestigious award:

Onward State on Twitter included a notable quote from Nassib, which illustrates just how far he's come since initially arriving in Happy Valley as a walk-on.

"You can't control talent, and you can't control size, but you can control how hard you work," he said.

Interesting to add is Ohio State star Joey Bosa won the Smith-Brown Defensive Lineman of the Year ahead of Nassib, who walked away with even better hardware. There's some sort of mutual exclusivity principle in play there.

StateCollege.com's Ben Jones was among those confused by the development, as Bosa took home his award for the second straight year:

Ohio State deservedly garnered a ton of attention in its bid to repeat as national champion. A home loss to Michigan State late in the season likely derailed the Buckeyes' chances at returning to the College Football Playoff, but Bosa and the defense were big reasons OSU was even in the conversation.

Peppers is well worth mentioning in more detail, as he commendably bounced back from an injury-induced redshirt year. Not only was he chosen to the defensive backfield first team—he was a second-team return specialist and also contributed on offense for the Wolverines in 2015.

For a team that lacked splash playmakers in head coach Jim Harbaugh's first year at the helm, Peppers was especially valuable. Big Ten Network highlighted the freshman phenom's contributions:

Looking ahead to Tuesday's other notable awards, OSU running back Ezekiel Elliott is a huge favorite to win Offensive Player of the Year. Elliott brought the pain to Michigan in the regular-season finale in Ann Arbor, running for 214 yards and two touchdowns in his side's 42-13 win. The big-time performance brought Elliott to 1,672 yards rushing on the year with 19 scores.

But Iowa has quietly gone about its business, managed to defeat every opponent in its path and has a steadfast, ever-loyal head coach in Kirk Ferentz who's being rewarded for numerous years invested with the Hawkeyes. There's little doubt the 60-year-old will be named Coach of the Year.

The Hawkeyes still have to face Michigan State in the conference title game on Dec. 5, but a win therein will likely guarantee Iowa a spot in the Top Four and a real chance at college football's ultimate prize. Few could have foreseen that after the Hawkeyes posted a 7-6 record last season.