Nine players from B1G land on The Big Lead’s top 50 list

Another day in the preseason means another article listing the top college football players heading into the 2017 season.

Recently, The Big Lead released its list of the top 50 college players for 2017. And the B1G – Ohio State in particular – was well-represented.

Nine players from the conference were mentioned in the top 50, accounting for nearly 20 percent of the list. Ohio State, which had the most of any B1G team, had four players make the cut. Penn State had two players and Indiana, Iowa and Michigan all had one representative.

Despite the B1G occupying a good portion of the list, most of the players were ranked in the bottom half of the top 50. Just two players were in the top 25, both of which ranked in the top 10.

Penn State’s Saquon Barkley and Michigan’s Rashan Gary were the two highest-rate B1G players, ranking No. 6 and No. 7 respectively. Gary is expected to be one of the top defensive linemen in the country this fall, while Barkley is a Heisman favorite headed into the season.

Here’s what The Big Lead had to say about Gary:

Rashan Gary came to Ann Arbor as one of the nation’s best recruits and showed flashes of brilliance. His playing time will increase this year, providing him ample opportunity to show his freakish athleticism. The 6’5″ 295-pound Gary posted the fastest 40 time among the Wolverines’ front seven, leaving linebackers in the dust. Scary.

And on Barkley:

A workout warrior with immense physical gifts and remarkable vision, Saquon Barkley has a legitimate shot to become the Nittany Lions’ all-time leading rusher and catapult them into the College Football Playoff.

Those two are definitely worthy of their high ranking on this list.

But what about the other seven players? And where do other Heisman hopefuls J.T. Barrett and Trace McSorley rank? Here’s where the rest of the B1G players ranked:

• No. 32 Josey Jewell, Iowa
• No. 33 Nick Bosa, Ohio State
• No. 37 J.T. Barrett, Ohio State
• No. 38 Sam Hubbard, Ohio State
• No. 44 Tegray Scales, Indiana
• No. 46 Trace McSorley, Penn State
• No. 49 Billy Price, Ohio State

At the top of the list was Louisville QB Lamar Jackson, USC QB Sam Darnold and Houston DT Ed Oliver.

To view the full list from The Big Lead, click here.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB