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PHONE'S RINGING -- IT'S URBAN ON THE LINE

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X-Brax is no. 1 in big ten blog, showing someone at ESPN has some sense.

By gumtape -25 February 2013
12 Comments
- Football

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/72035/big-ten-rankings-no-1-braxton-miller

And to think he can only be getting better.

Our appetite for college football will never be satiated. More meaningless filler please!

brandonbauer87 on 25 Feb 2013 - 2:42pm #

Rittenberg is usually pretty good. He seems pretty unbiased.

jeremytwoface on 25 Feb 2013 - 2:49pm #

Yeah I think the B1G blog is usually pretty honest and unbiased.

Poison nuts on 25 Feb 2013 - 2:49pm #

# 10 - Ryan Shazier...I may just be a huge RDS fan, but I would probably have put him closer to 4-5. This year, if Middle Linebacker is filled with a good player from the start, I see Shazier having a historic season.

The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.

rdubs on 25 Feb 2013 - 2:55pm #

I think partly he wasn't playing as well at the beginning of the season as he was by the end. It really is hard to argue with many of the players ahead of him too.

Unky Buck on 25 Feb 2013 - 2:58pm #

I think partly he wasn't playing as well at the beginning of the season as he was by the end.

Apparently great minds think alike, haha

Poison nuts on 25 Feb 2013 - 3:16pm #

He definitely played better from the middle of the season on. I think mainly because he needed someone solid in the middle. Still, the stats say he had an excellent year on the whole if you look at them by themselves. But yes - the beginning of the season had a shaky start...

On the subject of players that are ahead of him, I think I could make a reasonable argument that RDS could be ahead of a few, although, of course, I'm biased. He had a huge impact on some key games like at PSU & at Wisky. If not for Shaziers play in those games, especially Wisconsin, there could be different outcomes & no 12-0 season.

Regardless, one thing we do agree on - next season - Look Out!

The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.

Unky Buck on 25 Feb 2013 - 2:56pm #

I'm a huge fan as well, but, and maybe I'm not remembering this correctly, I recall Shazier not being nearly as dominate in the first half of the season as he was in the second half. His play wasn't void of big moments, but I think he found himself out of place a lot, not taking correct angles, etc. And then midseason he sort of started putting it all together and finished very strong. Like I said, his play wasn't without those huge hits and other moments, but I think his consistency showed in a greater capacity later on. Next year I think you'll see him much higher on the list.

Squirrel Master on 25 Feb 2013 - 3:03pm #

I can see him being lower than what we believe. He is excellent at coverage and has great skills but he is an outside linebacker and despite his role with the team, he isn't a great edge rusher. He will definitely need to start providing more tools for him to get more recognition. Right now he is better known for incredible plays but not consistency and being a complete linebacker.

We know he is very talented and should have a stellar season but still feel he has a lot more growing to do which is scary good news for us fans. I also think help at the other linebacker positions will help him a lot too. I do believe that part of his second half success was due to Boren moving over to MLB. He was able to be more of a roamer than trying to cover for his lesser counterparts.