Many historically great programs entering the 2017 college football season will be ranked among the country’s elite.

Oklahoma, USC and Alabama are among those, and from the Big Ten will be Ohio State and Penn State. What makes these teams legitimate contenders next season? Well, the players, of course.

ESPN ranked the top-25 players returning within the Big Ten earlier today and of the 25, 10 are from the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions. As we mentioned earlier, returning B1G backs will have quite the impact on the 2017 season and five of the top-13 players on this list are running backs.

Below are the top-25 returning student-athletes:

No. 1 – Penn State RB Saquon Barkley
No. 2 – Penn State QB Trace McSorley
No. 3 – Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett
No. 4 – Iowa LB Josey Jewell
No. 5 – Northwestern RB Justin Jackson
No. 6 – Indiana LB Tegray Scales
No. 7 – Ohio State LB Jerome Baker
No. 8 – Ohio State RB Mike Weber
No. 9 – Ohio State DE Tyquan Lewis
No. 10 – Ohio State DE Sam Hubbard
No. 11 – Minnesota RB Rodney Smith
No. 12 – Michigan QB Wilton Speight
No. 13 – Iowa RB Akrum Wadley
No. 14 – Ohio State OL Billy Price
No. 15 – Penn State TE Mike Gesicki
No. 16 – Wisconsin TE Troy Fumagalli
No. 17 – Minnesota DL Steven Richardson
No. 18 – Wisconsin LB T.J. Edwards
No. 19 – Michigan State RB L.J. Scott
No. 20 – Michigan State OL Brian Allen
No. 21 – Penn State S Marcus Allen
No. 22 – Nebraska S Kieron Williams
No. 23 – Wisconsin LB Jack Cichy
No. 24 – Northwestern QB Clayton Thorson
No. 25 – Rutgers WR/KR Janarion Grant

ESPN’s article with descriptions of each player can be read here.