The 2009 Big Ten Receiver class is more top heavy than an orange on a toothpick.  Two big-time pass catchers headline a group that offers practically no fantasy support or interest below them.  But if you want one of that 2-slice orange you better peel and eat quickly because they aren’t likely to last long once that inevitable early run on WRs starts…

THE STUDS (Fantasy Starter Worthy)

Arrelious Benn has 1,731 career receiving yards, ranking him 7th in the Illinois record book

1. Arrelious Benn – Illinois (pictured left courtesy Icon SMI)

This has the makings of a potentially special season for Benn… at least by oft arial challenged Big Ten standards.  The offense returns 7 others around him including the conferences elite QB.  He has 6-5 Jeff Cumberland as protection on the other side to keep secondaries honest and the Illini run game should be strong enough to keep an extra DB off the field in most situations.  His physical skills are second probably only to that beast running routes at Oklahoma State and Zook may even continue to utilize him in variations of the ground game as an added bonus.  Fans in Champaign are expecting big things this season and if it’s going to pan out the way they hope it will, start with the playmaking tandem of Juice Williams to Benn.  Don’t hesitate to make him your #1 WR. Read the rest of this entry →

Big 10 is certainly no stranger to potent and powerful ground games and elite RBs. Last year was no exception, with 3 of the nation’s best running wild last season.  But Shonn Greene, Beanie Wells and Javon Ringer have all moved on to Sundays and the remaining backs entering the 2009 season are not exactly your traditional Big 10 bumper crop. However, as there always will be in the Big 10, there are still a few fantasy worthy RBs. None of them are carrying the big names and hype that many who will be drafted ahead of them are, but the under-the-radar production could lead to some great values in your fantasy backfield… You just have to know how to navigate a minefield (or backfield in this case) full of big eaters, carry sharers, 1980’s cartoon maneuvers, emerging leprechauns protecting potential pots of fantasy gold, a different kind of “Greene” impersonator and a dangerously youthful recipe. Let me explain… Read the rest of this entry →

The consensus knock on the Big 10 is that the conference lacks speed top to bottom, including the conference’s elite teams. The irony here is that the knock on the two fantasy starter-worthy QBs in the conference is that they may have to rely TOO heavily on their… wait for it… SPEED (go figure), in order to make the type of fantasy production impact needed to warrant the elite status many will be hoping for and counting on, if electing not to go QB early in drafts.  Juice Williams and Terrelle Pryor do have the respective arms needed to get the job done, but in the generally not-so-spread, run first, defense rules Big 10; these guys will be available to those who choose to load up on the elite RBs and WRs early… and it could pay off big. Read the rest of this entry →