Considering Saquon Barkley is on the short list of Heisman front-runners heading into 2017, most probably assumed the Penn State junior was the Big Ten's top returning rusher. Nope.
While Barkley rushed for 1,496 yards on 272 carries in 14 games, Northwestern's Justin Jackson led all Big Ten rushers in both total rushing yards (1,524) and per-game average (117.2).
The top five Big Ten quarterbacks in passing yards from last season — including Penn State’s Trace McSorley (3,614), Indiana’s Richard Lagow (3,362), Northwestern’s Clayton Thorson (3,182) and Michigan’s Wilton Speight (2,538) — all return.