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          Big 12 Blog

          Re-ranking the Big 12's best players

          • ESPN.com staff
          Feb 11, 2011, 08:00 PM

          Oh, yes. It's that time again.

          I made my first go-around this summer, and it was definitely a fun experience that inspired tons of discussion. Perhaps my favorite moment: The group of you (much, much larger than I ever expected) who felt the need to fill my inbox with angry e-mails after I jokingly teased in July that Garrett Gilbert would be No. 1 on my list that was "heavily weighted toward players' actual accomplishments in their college careers." Oh, you readers.

          Now, it's time to do the whole project all over again, starting Monday.

          We're ranking the top 25 players in the Big 12. This list, however, is based solely on their performances during the 2010 season. I composed my preliminary list on Thursday, but it's nowhere near finished.

          One quick note: This is one of the last cases in which Nebraska and Colorado will remain on the Big 12 blog. Since their players did play in the Big 12 in 2010, they're going to be included on this list.

          Here's what my top 25 looked like before the season:

          • No. 1: Jerrod Johnson, QB, Texas A&M

          • No. 2: Daniel Thomas, RB, Kansas State

          • No. 3: Travis Lewis, LB, Oklahoma

          • No. 4: Von Miller, LB, Texas A&M

          • No. 5: Ryan Broyles, WR, Oklahoma

          • No. 6: Nate Solder, LT, Colorado

          • No. 7: Aaron Williams, CB, Texas

          • No. 8: DeMarco Murray, RB, Oklahoma

          • No. 9: Jared Crick, DT, Nebraska

          • No. 10: Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor

          • No. 11: Jeremy Beal, DE, Oklahoma

          • No. 12: Blaine Gabbert, QB, Missouri

          • No. 13: Prince Amukamara, CB, Nebraska

          • No. 14: Alexander Robinson, RB, Iowa State

          • No. 15: Sam Acho, DE, Texas

          • No. 16: Roy Helu, Jr., RB, Nebraska

          • No. 17: Curtis Brown, CB, Texas

          • No. 18: Aldon Smith, DE, Missouri

          • No. 19: Kendall Hunter, RB, Oklahoma State

          • No. 20: Jeff Fuller, WR, Texas A&M

          • No. 21: Tim Barnes, C, Missouri

          • No. 22: Brian Duncan, LB, Texas Tech

          • No. 23: Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma

          • No. 24: Tanner Hawkinson, OT, Kansas

          • No. 25: Blake Gideon, S, Texas

          As I'm sure you can tell, plenty of guys dropped off the early draft of the postseason list. Plenty of others will be crashing the party pretty high on the list.

          Others made big moves up or down. I'm interested to hear your input before we get this thing kicked off.

          So, who deserves to go where?