Summer's almost here, but we're still looking forward to the fall. With that in mind, we're looking at the most indispensable players on each Big Ten team.

By indispensable, we don't necessarily mean best. We mean the players who would be hardest to replace between now and the start of the season if they got hurt/suspended/stuck on a broken cruise ship, etc. That could be because of their value to the team or because of a lack of depth at their position.

We'll pick two players from each team, usually offense and defense, but not always. In our second installment, we turn to the Iowa Hawkeyes:

Brandon Scherff, LT, Sr.

This one's pretty much a no-brainer. While the Hawkeyes have some nice depth on their offensive line and are one of the best in the business at developing offensive linemen, Scherff should enter the season as the best lineman in the Big Ten. He's integral to the entire Iowa offense in protecting quarterback Jake Rudock and paving room in the running game. We saw how the offense slowed to a halt after Scherff got injured late in the 2012 season. The Hawkeyes would likely be able to weather his absence better this season, but they sure don't want to find out what life is like this year without the potential 2015 NFL first-round pick.

Desmond King, CB, Soph.

Here's another case where a choice for most indispensable is probably not among the best two players on the team. If we were simply going that route, defensive tackle Carl Davis would likely appear here. But Iowa has built depth along the defensive line, while King -- who excelled as a freshman in 2013 -- is a guy the Hawkeyes really can't afford to lose right now. There are some major question marks elsewhere in the secondary after the graduation of B.J. Lowery. Three relatively unproven players -- Maurice Fleming, Sean Draper and Greg Mabin -- are battling it out for the other starting corner spot. Though King is just a sophomore, he's clearly a star in the making and one of the few anchors right now for the defensive backfield.