i'm sorry, but decker is a better receiver than benn. benn has what people vaguely describe as "athleticism." i think that this kind of talk walks the thin line of racial stereotyping. they are very comparable, both are 6'2"ish and 202ish pounds.
but benn beats out decker, according to rittenberg, because:
"Past performance and future potential have been the two primary gauges for these rankings, and no player satisfies both measures more than Rejus Benn. He came to Illinois as one of the best recruits in the country and, for the most part, has lived up to the hype, which is never a guarantee."
i don't know if you can rank the big ten's best players based on where they ranked as a recruit. in fact, i think that if that is the case then decker should be ranked higher, as he has outperformed his potential (at least his potential according to the recruiting websites) while benn has merely "lived up to the hype."
i also don't know how rittenberg, who is normally very good, can rank the big ten's best players and then say:
"where he [benn] really separates himself is future potential. As I've written before, he's an NFL player who happens to still be in college. He projects extremely well to the next level and, barring a setback this fall, would be a strong candidate to enter the 2010 NFL draft."
what does his future in the NFL have to do with where he should be ranked among the big ten's best players?
let's look at their first two years. decker had 12 TDs in his first two years--benn had 5. benn has more yards in his first two years than decker, by 500 yards, but that has something to do with the different styles of offense the two teams ran.
decker had better numbers last year, i am willing to bet that decker is the better blocker and route runner, and he played on a team where he was the only legitimate receiving threat and was certainly as high a priority to the defense's game plan as benn, if not more. decker averaged 89 yards per game, benn 67. decker averaged 7 rec per game, benn 5.58. i could not find YAC stats anywhere, but i bet decker has benn beat there as well. decker had 7 touchdowns, benn had 3.
and yet rittenberg says:
"Despite being targeted by opposing defenses last fall, he racked up 1,055 receiving yards to lead the Big Ten at the end of the regular season."
yes, he led the regular season in yards, but decker missed an entire game, so if you add the insight bowl to make up for it, then decker wins with 1077.
i will be watching benn closely this year, because he will need to rack up more than 84 rec's 1,077 yards, and 7TD's to have outperformed decker's junior year. don't see that happening, but hey, he is "more athletic" than decker.
