Ahead of the Big Ten media days this week in Indianapolis, Cleveland.com released their annual Big Ten media poll as the conference does not do an official media poll, or awards prior to the start of the season.
According to the 26 voters that participated in the poll, Minnesota is projected to finish 12th in the Big Ten with an average rank of 12.22. The poll has the Gophers finishing ahead of program's such as Illinois, Northwestern, UCLA, Michigan State, Indiana, and Purdue.
At the top of the preseason poll is the Ohio State Buckeyes with 21 of 27 first place votes. Oregon was the only other program to earn first place votes with six. Penn State, Michigan, and Iowa fill out the top five while USC, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Rutgers, and Washington round out the top ten.
Additionally, the 27 writers picked Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel and Michigan cornerback Will Johnson as the conference's preseason offensive and defensive players of the year.
Gophers running back Darius Taylor was one of 16 offensive players in the country that gained votes for preseason player of the year. Notably,of the top six vote getters, four were Ohio State talents in RB Quinshon Judkins, WR Emeka Egbuka, QB Will Howard, and RB TreVeyon Henderson.
No Gopher earned votes for defensive player of the year.
The Gophers will participate on the last day of Big Ten Media Days on Thursday, accompanying P.J. Fleck at Lucas Oil Stadium will be RB Darius Taylor, QB Max Brosmer, and LB Cody Lindenberg.
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