Big Ten Football: Midseason All-Conference Team

We're now halfway through the season. Most Big Ten teams have completed the out-of-conference portion of their schedule, and all Big Ten teams have played at least one conference game.

In effect, we're beginning to get a clear picture of who the cream of the conference is, as well as which players deserve conference laurels.

In truth, most end-of-the-year college awards have as much to do with reputation as with actual accomplishments.

Despite this, I will attempt to bestow these highly prestigious middle-of-the-year honors on players that have specifically earned it due to their on-the-field accomplishments.

It will certainly be interesting to see what changes over the course of the next six weeks.

Quarterback

First Team: Russell Wilson, Wisconsin Badgers. 

Second Team: Nathan Scheelhaase, Illinois Illini.

I admit, when Wilson announced that he would be joining the Badgers, I felt it would help Wisconsin; however, I didn't feel it would be the difference between a good year and a great year.

Nonetheless, up to this point in the season, Wilson is probably the league's offensive MVP, and, the way things are going, he could very well propel the Badgers to a perfect 12-0 regular season.

At the very least, it is hard to imagine anybody that remains on Wisconsin's schedule has a reasonable chance of beating the Badgers—outside of maybe Michigan State or Illinois.

As for Illinois, much of the reason for its success lies with its sophomore signal caller, Nathan Scheelhaase. 

He is another player that I admittedly questioned. I felt he would experience a sophomore slump without Mikel Leshoure behind him.

However, Scheelhaase has taken the Illini on his back. He not only has the second-highest passer efficiency rating in the conference—fifth in the country (Wilson is first nationally)—he also has 347 yards on the ground, which is among the top 20 rushers in the conference.

Running Backs

First Team: Montee Ball, Wisconsin Badgers. Rex Burkhead, Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Second Team: James White, Wisconsin Badgers. Silas Redd, Penn State Nittany Lions.

Thus far, it has not been a great season for running backs in the conference of three yards and a cloud of dust. In fact, three of the conference's 10 top rushers (yards-per-game) are quarterbacks.

That said, Montee Ball has been one of the bright spots. He is currently one of the Big Ten's only two backs averaging over 100 YPG. He has totaled 511 yards and 5.49 YPC. He also has six catches for 120 yards and a touchdown.

Finally, before this past week (a bye week for Wisconsin) he was leading the country with 13 rushing touchdowns.

The other running back that is averaging over 100 YPG is Rex Burkhead. Burkhead is not the prettiest or most talented back in the conference. Moreover, it is unlikely he will get drafted after he graduates in 2012.

Nonetheless, he gets the job done. He currently has 635 yards to go with nine rushing touchdowns.

Wide Receivers

First Team: Nick Toon, Wisconsin Badgers. B.J. Cunningham, Michigan State Spartans. A.J. Jenkins, Illinois Illini.

Second Team: Marvin McNutt, Iowa Hawkeyes. Derek Moye, Penn State Nittany Lions. Jeremy Ebert, Northwestern Wildcats.

Illinois' A.J. Jenkins has been on fire. He is currently ranks No. 2 nationally in receiving yards with 815. He has 46 receptions to go with 17.72 YPC and seven touchdowns.

No Big Ten receivers are anywhere close to his level of production.

Nonetheless, there have been a number of other impressive receivers in the conference.

The first is MSU's B.J. Cunningham, who became Michigan's State's career reception leader on September 11. This season, he has the second-most yards receiving in the Big Ten with 582. He also has 38 receptions and two touchdowns.

Finally, Nick Toon has been Russell Wilson's favorite target. He has 25 receptions for 447 yards and six touchdowns.

Tight Ends

First Team: Jacob Pedersen, Wisconsin Badgers.

Second Team: Jake Stoneburner, Ohio State Buckeyes.  

Tight end play has been somewhat down in the Big Ten thus far this year. Part of the reason for that is because the two normal stalwarts of Big Ten tight end play—Wisconsin and Iowa—are breaking in new starters.

Unfortunately, Iowa's production at tight end hasn't been quite what Hawkeye fans hoped for. Meanwhile, Wisconsin has done a bit better with Jacob Pedersen.

The sophomore has 14 receptions for 224 yards and four touchdowns. He's not about to equal Lance Kendricks' All-American production from last year, but he is forcing defenses to pay attention to him.

Offensive Line

First Team: Riley Reiff, Iowa Hawkeyes. Jeff Allen, Illinois Illini. Kevin Zeitler, Wisconsin Badgers. Dennis Kelly. Purdue Boilermakers. Dave Molk, Michigan Wolverines.

Second Team: Ricky Wagner, Wisconsin Badgers, Joel Foreman, Michigan State Spartans. Jamarcus Hardrick, Nebraska Cornhuskers. Al Netter, Northwestern Wildcats. Peter Konz, Wisconsin Badgers.

Offensive line is a tricky area. Usually, conference awards and even All-American awards are based more on reputation than performance. That plays a part in all position group awards, but especially with offensive linemen.

Part of the issue is there is nothing to go on. After all, O-linemen don't generate any tangible statistics.

Moreover, I certainly haven't seen every Big Ten game this year. In effect, it was particularly difficult to be true to my initial criteria—that the players I named would be based on performance rather than reputation.

That said, I have seen all of the above play at least once.

Furthermore, let's face it. The only Big Ten offense and more specifically, offensive line that is operating like a well-oiled machine is in Madison. And the foundation of any good offense—and especially any good power-based offense—is the line.

Consequently, it is no surprise that three of the above 10 players call themselves Badgers.

Defensive Line

First Team: Whitney Mercilus, Illinois Illini. Devon Still, Penn State Nittany Lions. Jerel Worthy, Michigan State Spartans. Mike Martin, Michigan Wolverines.

Second Team: Kawann Short, Purdue Boilermakers. Mike Daniels, Iowa Hawkeyes. Beau Allen, Wisconsin Badgers. Cameron Meredith, Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Whitney Mercilus currently leads the country in sacks with 8.5. He also leads the Big Ten in tackles-for-loss with 10.5. He has been particularly disruptive in the Illinis' marquee games, as he registered two sacks against Arizona State and 1.5 against Northwestern.

He is playing a role similar to what Ryan Kerrigan played for Purdue last season, except unlike with Kerrigan, I doubt many saw it coming.

Meanwhile, Devon Still has two sacks and is No. 2 in the conference with nine tackles-for-loss. More importantly, he is the anchor for the conference's third best rush defense.

Worthy and Martin's stats are not quite as garish as Mercilus and Still, but more importantly, both have played the key component to two of the Big Ten's best defenses.

Michigan State is tied for the second best scoring defense and the first best rush defense.

Meanwhile, one of the bigger surprises in the conference—though not to me—are the Wolverines who are the fourth best scoring defense in the Big Ten. Needless to say, Martin—one of the few bright spots to last year's Michigan defense—has been the leader of that D.

Linebackers

First Team: Chris Borland, Wisconsin Badgers. Lavonte David, Nebraska Cornhuskers. Kenny Demens, Michigan Wolverines.

Second Team: Mike Taylor, Wisconsin Badgers. Gerald Hodges, Penn State Nittany Lions. Michael Buchanan, Illinois Illini.***

After winning the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2009, Chris Borland missed most of 2010 with a shoulder injury. Now he is back and he has moved from the Badgers strong-side position to the more active middle linebacker.

He has totaled 43 tackles, 5.5 tackles-for-loss and one interception in leading the nations' third-best scoring defense.

Meanwhile, Nebraska's defense has not been quite as impressive as most pundits figured they would be. Moreover, David has not been quite as dominant as he was in last season's peso defense. Nonetheless, he is still one of the best linebackers in the Big Ten. He currently leads the conference with 58 tackles, to go along with one interception, 5.5 TFL and two sacks.

Finally, Kenny Demens has improved on his promise of last season. The junior has led the resurgent Michigan defense with 45 tackles, two TFL and a sack.

***Buchanan lines up in Illinois' bandit position, which is more like a stand-up defensive end than a linebacker. Nevertheless, he is officially considered a linebacker and will be considered a linebacker at the end of the year when the Big Ten names its all-conference team.

Defensive Backs

First Team: Terry Hawthorne, Illinois Illini. Micah Hyde, Iowa Hawkeyes. CJ Barnett, Ohio State Buckeyes. Drew Astorino, Penn State Nittany Lions.

Second Team: Nick Sukay, Penn State Nittany Lions. Johnny Adams, Michigan State Spartans. Trenton Robinson, Michigan State Spartans. Antonio Fenelus, Wisconsin Badgers.

Defensive backs are such a position where those players—and particularly cornerbacks—with less garish stats are often the most productive. After all, a cornerback with a lot of tackles is probably getting picked on. Meanwhile, a cornerback with very little to show for his time on the field is probably being avoided.

That is part of the case with Terry Hawthorne, who missed much of the last two years with injuries. Now that he is healthy, he is beginning to deliver on his early promise in leading the fifth-best pass defense in the conference.

At the same time, Micah Hyde has picked up some notable stats in leading the Big Ten with three interceptions. He has done this from both cornerback and safety, as he began the season at free safety, but was moved back to the position he patrolled last season.

Ohio State's CJ Barnett has been one of the bright spots in the worst team and defense that has patrolled the Horseshoe in a long time. He is second in the conference with six defended passes to go along with two picks.

Finally, Drew Astorino is one half of the best safety combination in the Big Ten. He has five pass breakups to go along with one interception.

Kickers and Punters

First Team Kicker: Brett Maher, Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Second Team Kicker: Derek Dimke. Illinois Illini.

First Team Punter: Cody Webster, Purdue Boilermakers.

Second Team Punter: Brett Maher, Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Maher has been doing double duty as both punter and kicker. He is 11-of-13 of field goals with a long of 50. He is also 25-of-25 on extra points.

Meanwhile, Webster is averaging 48.1 YPP with a long of 66 yards.

Kickoff Returners and Punt Returners

Kickoff Returner: Ameer Abdullah. Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Punt Returner: Jared Abbrederis. Wisconsin Badgers.

As the Big Ten does not name all-conference return men, I saw no reason to name second-team returners, as one could say that naming first team returners was superfluous.

That said, Abdullah is a true freshman that is leading the conference in kickoff return average and it's not even close. His 31.90 YPR is almost four YPR more than the player in second.

His longest return was the accompanying video showcasing a 100-yard touchdown against Fresno State.

Meanwhile, Abbrederis has been the model of consistency on punt returns. He currently averages 17.43 YPR on seven returns. He has done this without any returns longer than 30 yards.