Big Ten Awards: Quick reaction and links

Good evening all! It's a bit late, but below are the individual players of the year at each position.  We will have more to follow on the all-conference teams tomorrow, along with voting for who you all think is the returner of the year, since that is not an award (yet).  Individual awards are as follows:

Special Teams:

Eddelmen-Fields Punter of the Year - Peter Mortell - Minnesota

I'm not sure winning punter of the year is so hot, especially when you average over 230 yards per game in putning yards, but Mortell averaged over 45 yards per punt this year for Minnesota to take home the award.

Bakken-Anderson Kicker of the Year - Brad Craddock - Maryland

Brad Craddock only missed one kick all year, the last of the regular season at that on a 54 yard attempt to tie the game at Rutgers.  Craddock at a season high of 57 and was automatic inside the 50 on the season.  He is the current front runner for the Graza Kicker of the Year award and a first team all-american.

Defense:

Tatum-Woodsen Defensive Back of the Year - Kurtis Drummond, MSU

Drummond enjoyed a solid season for MSU, tallying 65 tackles, 4 interceptions, and 11 pass deflections on one of the better defenses in the B1G.  Trae Waynes and William Likely were also contenders, but it's hard to argue against Drummond receiving this.

Butkus-Fitzgerald LB of the Year - Mike Hull, PSU

Hull was a beast for PSU and one of the bright spots on the season, tallying 134 total tackles, 10.5 TFL, and 2 sacks on the season.  Hull anchored one of the top defenses in the nation this year and is very deserving.

Smith-Brown DL of the Year - Joey Bosa

The only unanimous first team selection, Bosa posted a crazy 20 TFL and 13.5 sacks.  I don't think you'll find any arguments on this.

Offense:

Rimington-Pace OL of the Year - Brandon Scherff, Iowa

I think this may end up the most contentious of awards, as Scherff definitely has the most potential but definitely had an up and down season.  The Maryland game was one to forget for Scherff as the smaller speed rushers were able to beat him many times, but overall a solid season that will likely land him in the Top 15 next April.

Kwalick-Clark TE of the Year - Maxx Williams, Minnesota

The entire Iowa game was reason enough for this award, but I'll leave this here as a reminder.

Ameche-Dayne RB of the Year - Melvin Gordon

Breaking the record for most yards in a game by going for 408 yards is silly, let alone the fact that it was somehow broken the week after.  Gordon rushed for over 2,000 yards this year and led the back of a ridiculous amount of talent at the RB position in the B1G.  Any four of Gordon, Cobb, Abdullah, and Coleman would have been the best RB in any other conference this year.  Insanity.

Richter-Howard WR of the Year - Tony Lippett

It must be nice to have Conner Cook throwing to you while he has two potential all-americans block for him.  Lippett enjoyed this fact to the tune of 1,124 receiving yards and 11 TDs.  No arguments here, especially when a certain Maryland WR did his best to get injured as he does every year..

Griese-Brees QB of the Year - JT Barrett

Hands down the best quarterback in the conference, as a redshirt freshman at that.  Barrett was quite the show to watch as he dissected defenses week in and week out and being one of the nations leaders in total touchdowns and offense accounted for.  Barrett, even though out for the year, may still and should get an invite to NYC for the Heisman voting, which he may very well win next year.

I apologize for the lack of conference team coverage, but tables are not working so well at the moment.  I'll leave you with the BTN website, which has put it in a nice table already for you all to view and complain about.  The link is here. A separate article will go up tomorrow covering the first team, second team, and honorable mentions.

Any snubbs? Duke it out in the comments.