FanHouse, meet James Laurinaitis.
James won the Nagurski Award in 2006, then won the Butkus Award in 2007. He's the reigning and defending Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and he plays for the reigning and defending two-time Big Ten champions.
He is not underrated.
However, we all know of a player or two on our favorite team(s) who are. You know? Those guys who play well every Saturday, always show up with solid numbers on the stat sheet, help their team win games, but get virtually no recognition whatsoever.
Maybe it's a high-profile teammate. Perhaps the team simply isn't highly-regarded. Or maybe it's because a player at the same position is considered that conference's alpha dog.
No matter the reason, there are many underrated players in the Big Ten. Our top five (in no particular order) follow the jump.
| C.J. Bacher, QB, Northwestern |
 Yes, I know he threw 19 interceptions a year ago. And his team failed to qualify for a bowl game despite being 5-3 after eight games.However, let's look at some facts about last year's Northwestern team. Bacher was knocked around, but kept getting back up. Wildcat QBs were sacked 32 times last year, and Bacher was also forced to throw the ball a lot because of an inept running game. Northwestern averaged a scant 3.6 yards per rush and 120 rush yards per game. Despite this, Bacher threw for nearly 3,700 yards, and the Wildcats averaged over 300 pass yards per game. Even in a spread offense that is designed to allow the quarterback the freedom to wing the ball all over, such a disparity isn't going to work all that well. The price that you pay is with more turnovers than you would normally expect. Bacher threw those 19 interceptions, which contributed to a minus-nine turnover ratio for the team. It won't be repeated. Bacher hit over 60 percent of his passes last year, and with nearly all his top receivers back, the number will rise. It will also help that feature back Tyrell Sutton is healthy and ready for a big senior year. He's been virtually invisible since being named Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2005. |
| Adam Weber, QB, Minnesota |
 The purpose of this list is to recognize the unrecognized.In some cases, that means finding the hidden gems in, say, a team that just posted the worst season in school history. For the Minnesota Gophers, 1-11 a year ago, Weber is that hidden gem. The redshirt freshman started every game, got better and better every time out, and only managed to lead his team in rushing while throwing for nearly 2,900 yards and 24 touchdowns. Weber's main target, the also-underrated (but not quite underrated enough to make this list) Eric Decker, also returns. Decker caught 67 passes a year ago. He is the man this year, as big receiver Ernie Wheelwright exhausted his eligibility. Perhaps someone from one of Tim Brewster's tremendous recruiting classes can step up and fill the void. That would be just tremendous. Weber has such a stranglehold on the job that Brewster's own son, Clint, saw no reason to stick around. He transferred. If Weber can cut down on his interceptions (19) and continue to improve his accuracy, there's no reason to think Mike Dunbar's spread offense won't see some serious gains this season. Of course, if we're back here next summer talking about Weber being the Gophers' leading rusher, they're probably screwed. |
| Marcus Freeman, LB, Ohio State |
 When we got started, I mentioned that some guys are stuck behind higher-profile teammates. Freeman is a shining example of this, because playing the same position on the same team as Laurinaitis tends to render you a forgotten soldier. While Laurinaitis is clearly a better player in many ways, Freeman appears set to have a huge senior season of his own. Look at him as the Felix Jones to Laurinaitis' Darren McFadden. Both guys have "first-round pick" ability. Freeman's strength is his speed. He can go sideline-to-sideline with the best of them, and he's probably tOSU's best linebacker in coverage. Don't take "speedy" to mean "soft". Freeman is a good tackler and a solid hitter. He's plenty physical to go along with his quicks. In short, I'm not here to trumpet Freeman as being as good as or better than his teammate. However, he's a special player in his own right, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit to see both guys named first-team All-Big Ten this year (Freeman was on the second team last year). |
| Shane Carter, S, Wisconsin |
 I was all over Carter and fellow safety Aubrey Pleasant early last season. While Carter appeared to be getting better, neither of them was playing at a very high level.However, something happened to Carter along the way. He got better. Carter's tackling has been pretty good all along, but it takes more than good tackling to play well at safety. He needed to show better ball skills, and he certainly did that. Carter led the Big Ten with seven picks a year ago, and while he is moving to strong safety from free safety this year, he will be expected to continue getting better in coverage. (Meanwhile, Pleasant appears to have lost his job to sophomore Jay Valai. Thank you, Bret Bielema.) I don't just like Carter because his uncle is famous soon-to-be Hall of Famer Cris Carter. I like him because he's shown some serious upside at this position. It was a position of weakness for Wisconsin for about half the year in 2007, but improvement there would be a huge development for a defense that has a ton of experience returning. |
| Anthony Heygood, LB, Purdue |
 There's no getting around it, really. Purdue fielded a subpar defense last year.They weren't good against the run, and they weren't very good against the pass. They also lose five starters from that defense, leading one to believe that it may actually get worse this year. It won't if Heygood has any say in it. The strong-side linebacker was a near-constant presence in opposing backfields last year, racking up 14 tackles for loss to take the team lead. He's the only returning starting linebacker for Purdue, but he'll be expected to play a huge role. Because of his instincts, he's a player who can be extremely effective near the line of scrimmage. He needs to improve his work in coverage, but he has the speed and skill to be effective there. No doubt Purdue has the offense to climb the Big Ten standings, and Heygood has to lead the defense to a level that can keep it out of the way of wins. That means not getting blown up as often as last year. |
