Honored Buckeyes

Olave, Wilson, Thayer named to preseason All-big Ten team

The preseason all-big Ten team released Thursday includes three Ohio State players among 10 players selected by a media panel.

Offensive left tackle Thayer Munford and wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson are cornerstones for a Buckeyes program that has won four consecutive conference titles and qualified for the College Football Playoff the past two years.

Each were 2020 first-team All-big Ten selections.

Olave returns for his senior year with 87 receptions for 1,435 yards and 19 touchdowns in three seasons. In two seasons, Wilson has 73 receptions for 1,155 yards and 11 TDS.

Other East Division players honored were Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and Penn State wide receiver Jahan Dotson.

The West Division players include Minnesota running back Mohamed Ibrahim, Northwestern safety Brandon Joseph,

Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum, Purdue wide receiver David

Bell and Wisconsin linebacker Jack Sanborn. Ibrahim and Joseph were first-team All-big Ten last season.

Ibrahim rushed for 1,076 yards and 15 TDS on 201 carries as a junior. The scores rank fourth for a single season in

school history.

Adviser Alvarez

Former Wisconsin athletic director and coach Barry Alvarez is joining the Big Ten as the special adviser for football.

Alvarez retired from Wisconsin

after the past 18 years as AD and 16 seasons previously as coach of the Badgers. Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren announced Alvarez would be joining the conference, starting Aug. 2.

“I trust Barry Alvarez implicitly,” Warren said. “He means everything to this conference.”

Alvarez will work with Warren on College Football Playoff

expansion, television and bowl contracts, scheduling, and player health and safety.

Alvarez led the Badgers to three Big Ten titles and three Rose Bowl victories as a head coach and went 119-74-4.

Warren also said Wisconsin Chancellor Rebecca Blank will replace Northwestern President Morton Schapiro as chairperson of the Big Ten Council

of President and Chancellors.

Tribune News Service Ohio State wide receiver Chris Olave (2) celebrates a 33-yard touchdown catch during the fourth quarter of a game against Rutgers at Ohio Stadium on Nov. 7, 2020, in Columbus, Ohio.