Michigan Football Players Receive Votes For Preseason Big Ten Offensive, Defensive Player Of The Year

By the end of the season, several Michigan players have the ability to when both awards.

The 13th-annual preseason Big Ten media poll came out on Tuesday, via Cleveland.com. 

For the first time since 2019, not only is Ohio State not projected to win the Big Ten, but Michigan was voted on top to win the conference for the third year in a row. The Wolverines led the vote with 27 first-place ballots

There were a couple of other topics the 37 writers voted on: Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

The 37 writers who got a chance to vote consisted of beat writers of all 14 Big Ten teams, plus there were some national writers who write about college football. 

Offensive Player of the Year:

Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. won the voting with ease. He had 27 first-place votes out of 37. Michigan had three players receive votes, and two of them received first-place votes (J.J. McCarthy and Blake Corum).

1. Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Ohio State (27 first-place votes) 94 points

2. Blake Corum, RB, Michigan (4) 56

3. J.J. McCarthy, QB, Michigan (5) 27

4. Braelon Allen, RB, Wisconsin 21

5 (tie). Nick Singleton, RB, Penn State, and Taulia Tagovailoa, QB, Maryland 6

7. Kyle McCord, QB, Ohio State 5

8 (tie). Olu Fashanu, OT, Penn State; TreVeyon Henderson, RB, Ohio State and Donovan Edwards, RB, Michigan 2

11. Emeka Egbuka, WR, Ohio State 1

It's interesting Corum didn't receive more votes than he did. He was a Heisman contender for the entire season, and even after being injured against Illinois, Corum still made his way on the ballot. 

It's noteworthy to mention there have only been two receivers to ever win the award at the end of the season, and both were Michigan WRs: Desmond Howard (1991) and Braylon Edwards (2004). 

It's also clear the media believes McCarthy is the premier quarterback of the conference, at least in the preseason. McCarthy was the top quarterback vote-getter and had the second-most first-place votes. 

Defensive Player of the Year:

Harrison Jr. won the offensive side with ease, but there were 11 defensive players who received at least one first-place vote. Iowa's cornerback Cooper DeJean won the media vote. There were two Michigan players (Junior Colson and Will Johnson) who received a first-place vote each. 

1. Cooper DeJean, DB, Iowa (6 first-place votes) 42 points

2. Jer’Zhan “Johnny” Newton, DT, Illinois (7) 41

3. Tommy Eichenberg, LB, Ohio State (6) 29

4. J.T. Tuimoloau, DE, Ohio State (5) 28

5. Kalen King, DB, Penn State (1) 22

6. Abdul Carter, LB, Penn State (5) 20

7. Chop Robinson, DE, Penn State (3) 13

8. Denzel Burke, CB, Ohio State (1) 7

9. (tie) Junior Colson, LB, Michigan (1) and Will Johnson, CB, Michigan (1) 5

10. Mike Hall, DT, Ohio State (1) 3

11. (tie) Cal Haladay, LB, Michigan State and Jack Sawyer, DE, Ohio State 2

12. (tie) Maema Njongmeta, LB, Wisconsin; Tyler Nubin, DB, Minnesota and Nick Scourton (formerly Caraway), LB, Purdue 1

No slight on DeJean, Kalen King, or Denzel Burke, but it feels like Will Johnson is being slept on a little. He was one of the best cornerbacks at the end of the season in the Big Ten as a true freshman. Johnson has the ability to finish 2023 as an All-American. 

Junior Colson led the team in tackles in 2022 and he figures to be right around the football again in 2023. Colson is aggressive, fast, and has the knack of being around the football at all times.