Revsine's Big Ten Superlatives

The Big Ten Network's Dave Revsine put up a post detailing some takeaways after visiting each school in the conference for the preseason specials they have been doing over the past few weeks.  He hands out some superlatives which reflected pretty favorably on this year's squad so far.  Exciting to see a neutral third party who has seen every team in person consider us the best team in the conference heading into the season.

The rest of the post is some reading, but here are the superlatives we are mentioned in:

Best Team: Penn State.  I say this with one caveat – we saw Ohio State on its second day of practice, so it really was tough to gauge just how good the Buckeyes are. But I was really impressed with PSU. Their only real area of concern is in the secondary, and I'm not sure how many teams on their schedule can make them pay for that (though I'd certainly be worried about that game at Illinois, if I were them). Daryll Clark looked completely in control at QB, the RB crew is as good as any in the conference, and the defensive front seven will be very good.

Best Offensive Line: Iowa. I was really impressed with the Hawks, and I think they'll be outstanding when they have everyone back at full strength. 

Honorable Mention: Ohio State and Penn State. I think the Nittany Lions will be fine here – much better than JoePa is letting on. 

Best Tight Ends: Penn State. If Andrew Quarless has truly put his off–the-field issues behind him (and all indications are that he has), he could be the best tight end in the Big Ten. What puts Penn State over the top, though, is that Mickey Shuler would be in that conversation as well.

Best Defensive Line: Ohio State. Again, it's tough to truly judge the Buckeyes, since they weren't even wearing shoulder pads the day we saw them. But they certainly look the part physically, and we've seen most of these guys enough in past years to know how talented they are. Lawrence Wilson looks like he's ready to go after two straight season-ending injuries, Thaddeus Gibson and Cameron Heyward are tough to block, and they are solid at tackle, with Doug Worthington and Dexter Larimore, among others.

Honorable Mention: Minnesota, Penn State. Both these teams stand out due to the quality of their tackles, an area where the Big Ten is not particularly deep this season. OSU wins out solely due to its depth. The Gophers, in particular, will surprise some people, with Eric Small, Garret Brown and Jewhan Edwards making up a formidable trio.

Best Quarterback: Daryll Clark, Penn State. Terrelle Pryor is obviously remarkably talented, and Juice Williams is in the hunt if he can cut down on his mistakes, but I think Clark is still the best guy in the conference.  He looked incredibly confident in his role this year – such a contrast from a year ago, when he was battling with Pat Devlin in camp.

Best Campus Run: Last year, I gained 10 pounds on this trip (consuming a steak at every stop might just do that to you), so I focused a bit more on exercise this time around. While I was relegated to the hotel workout room at a few of the stops due to weather, time constraints, etc, I did get a chance to do a campus run at PSU, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. 

While each has its own redeeming features, it's hard not to choose Wisconsin for the prettiest run.  Two lakes, nice architecture – it's tough to beat. Penn State also has a beautiful natural setting, and Indiana's campus area is gorgeous, but the nod goes to Madison here.

Best Running Backs: Penn State. Evan Royster and Stephfon Green make up a fabulous 1-2 punch. Between those two and Darryl Clark, the Nittany Lions should again be dynamic on offense.

Best Linebackers: Penn State. The loss of Michael Mauti does hurt. They were raving about him, and it was easy to see why. I watched him in a couple of individual drills and was really impressed.  He's the next great one. Still, even without Mauti, it's hard to not to like a group that includes Sean Lee and Navorro Bowman.

Most Exciting Freshman: Devon Smith, Penn State. I love this guy.  Five-foot-seven and an absolute burner. They threw deep balls to him on two straight passes in 7-on-7 drills where he as at least five yards behind the DB. Look for him to be an instant big-play threat.

There are many other categories in his post, but even if he didn't outright saw we look like the best team, that is the  impression you would get in the aggregate from all the other notes.  An impression you certainly would not be getting if all you saw were videos of Paterno's current take on the team.

(Also: if this is, like, way too much blockquoting as to amount to stealing content or something, feel free to take it down.  No idea how this stuff works.)