By now, hopefully you know that the Big Ten Network has been going through a journey of identifying the best conference basketball and football players over the last decade. It has completed its efforts with hoops and is now on to football. Ohio State might be a so-called football school, but it actually had more representation on the All-Decade basketball teams than any other program in the Big Ten. In fact, Aaron Craft, D’Angelo Russell, Evan Turner, and Jared Sullinger all made the cut.
So, you know there’s going to be a lot scarlet and gray with the football reveals, and we already have our first two. BTN named its All-Decade football running backs and linebackers on Monday, and both Ezekiel Elliott and Ryan Shazier made Second Team All-Decade.
You know Elliott’s story well, but what many forget is that during the 2014 national title run at Ohio State, he wasn’t really a household name until the postseason when he went on an unbelievable tear — going for over 200 yards on the ground in each of the three games. That catapulted him to being arguably the best back in the country in 2015. That year, he took home the Big Ten’s MVP, Running Back of the Year, and Offensive Player of the Year.
For Shazier, many know him more for his continued recovery from a devastating spinal chord injury while playing with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he dominated on the field at Ohio State as a fast-twitch playmaker at the linebacker spot. In 2013, Shazier was a First Team All-Big Ten and First Team All-American.
