Ranking the Big Ten: Offensive Guards
As the 2022 college football season quickly approaches, it is time to look at the top players in the Big Ten Conference.
We continue our Ranking the Big Ten series by rating the top five returning offensive guards in the conference.
Related: QB | RB | WR | TE | OT |
1. Zak Zinter, Michigan
Michigan guard Zak Zinter is one of the most decorated offensive linemen in the Big Ten. Zinter earned a Second-Team All-Big Ten selection in 2021 by the media and an honorable mention from the coaches. That’s not where the real decorating begins.
According to the college football world, Zinter is poised for a titanic 2022. The 6-foot-6 320-pound junior is on Lindy’s preseason First-Team All-Big Ten and the Athlon Sports Second-Team All-Big Ten. Additionally, Zinter is the nation’s No. 4 offensive guard in 2022 according to Lindy’s and No. 5 nationally in the NFL Draft Bible sneak peak.
Yet, his Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades don’t necessarily jive with the preseason hype. Zinter received a pass block grade of 60.5, a run block grade of 67.2 and an overall offensive grade of 66.1. Those numbers rank 28th, 23rd and 23rd respectively among Big Ten guards last season. He allowed 16 pressures and one sack.
Zinter is one of four Michigan offensive lineman listed in the “Ranking the Big Ten” series. That group won the Joe Moore Award which honors the best offensive line in college football. Arguably, he is the highest touted member of the unit entering the 2022 season. The question is if Zinter can rise above his average 2021 grades to become the best guard in the Big Ten.
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2. J.D. Duplain, Michigan State
After paving the way for Walter Camp National Player of the Year Kenneth Walker III in 2021, Michigan State guard J.D. Duplain is back for his senior season.
Standing at 6-foot-4 and 305 pounds, Duplain is a preseason Second-Team All-Big Ten selection in both Lindy’s and Athlon. This follows an honorable mention from the Big Ten media and a Second-Team All-Big Ten selection from PFF in the 2021 team ratings.
Duplain has been dependable throughout his career and especially so last season. He started all 13 games at left guard for the Spartans in the 2021 season and played 696 total snaps which was the fifth most snaps of anyone on the Michigan State offense.
Duplain’s PFF grades are impressive. He posted the highest pass blocking grade of any Big Ten guard at 86.1. That number was top ten nationally. In addition, his run block grade was a 70.5 and his offensive grade a 74.2. The offensive grade is the highest of anyone on this list. Duplain allowed eight pressures and two sacks last season.
3. Connor Colby, Iowa
Iowa guard Connor Colby has a chance to be one of the breakout stars among Big Ten offensive lineman in 2022. He is the only underclassman on this list and quickly made an impact for Iowa in his freshman season.
Colby, a 6-foot-6 and 298-pound Iowa native, saw his first action in Iowa’s trouncing of Indiana to begin the season. Three weeks later, he drew his first start at right guard against Colorado State making him the first true freshman to start on the Iowa offensive line since 2017. He went on to start the 10 remaining games on the Hawkeye schedule.
Colby, who PFF selected to its All-True Freshman Team in 2021, received his top grade as a run blocker where he scored a 76.9. The flip side of that coin, pass blocking, is his biggest hole. Colby got a 52.0 in that category giving up 15 pressures and a sack in 313 pass-blocking snaps.
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Colby is on Lindy’s preseason Third-Team All-Big Ten this season. But with a big year this year and a couple more years to improve his pass blocking, he could become one of the Big Ten’s household names.
4. Tyler Beach, Wisconsin
Next on the list is another offensive guard playing in his home state.
Wisconsin’s Tyler Beach hails from Grafton, Wisconsin, but one major difference between Beach and Iowa’s Connor Colby is their age. Colby is the youngest player on this list while Beach is the oldest. He’s been with Wisconsin since 2017.
Following 2021 in which he was named to the Third-Team All-Big Ten by the conference’s coaches, Beach is ready for a sixth go around. This time comes with a position switch from tackle to guard. Beach made Athlon’s preseason Third-Team All-Big Ten as a result of the change.
His last season at tackle started out with high expectations, instead Beach was a mess in 2021. He had the fourth worst pass blocking grade in the Big Ten at 32.2 surrendering 24 pressures and three sacks. Beach gave up the most sacks and pressure of the guards on this list in 2021 as well as having the worst pass-block grade.
The saving grace was his agility in the run game. There Beach graded out at a 81.2 which is the highest in that category for this ranking.
Beach will be chasing a Wisconsin record in 2022. He will need to play in all 12 regular season games and a bowl game to pass Leon Jacobs and set the record for most games played as a Badger.
5. Trevor Keegan, Michigan
Michigan’s Trevor Keegan is the third Wolverine lineman to be featured in “Ranking the Big Ten” with one more hog molly to come.
The senior from Crystal Lake, Illinois started 11 out of 13 games in 2021 and earned honorable mention honors from the Big Ten’s media and coaches.
His PFF grades are fairly average. Keegan scored a 62.6 in overall offensive action and a 65.6 in run blocking. Keegan’s biggest area for improvement in 2022 will be in the passing game. He surrendered 17 pressures, five quarterback hits and a sack. That equates to a 50.4 pass-block grade. Each of Keegan’s 2021 grades fell from what he had displayed in 2020.
In 2022, Keegan is a preseason selection to Athlon’s Third-Team All-Big Ten.
