Big Ten Announces Defensive All-Conference Teams and Player Awards

The Big Ten announced their defensive all-conference teams and individual player award winners earlier tonight. No Gophers received any of the player awards -- no surprise there -- but a few managed to nab a couple of third-team and honorable mention all-conference spots. These tend to favor winning teams (with the exception of Maryland, strangely, and Nebraska), so if the Gophers had won more, I would guess they'd have more representation across the board. But what can you do?

Here are the Gophers that were recognized on the defensive side of the ball:

All-Big Ten Defense and Specials Team (Coaches)
3rd Team - Eric Murray
3rd Team - Ryan Santoso
3rd Team - Peter Mortell

Honorable Mention: Briean Boddy-Calhoun, De'Vondre Campbell, Theiren Cockran, Jalen Myrick, and Steven Richardson

All-Big Ten Defense and Special Teams (Media)
3rd Team - Eric Murray
3rd Team - Briean Boddy-Calhoun
3rd Team - Peter Mortell

Honorable Mention: De'Vondre Campbell, Theiren Cockran, Jack Lynn, Cody Poock, Steven Richardson, and Ryan Santoso

You can check out a complete list of the all-conference teams and individual award winners here. The offensive all-conference teams and individual award winners will be announced tomorrow night. I would expect KJ Maye and maybe Shannon Brooks or Brandon Lingen to nab a couple all-conference spots tomorrow night, if not at least honorable mention. Will #LeidnerTwitter crash if Mitch is included in the Honorable Mentions or (gasp) the third-team quarterback for either the coaches or media?