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Wisconsin's John Clay (32) ran right by the rest of the competition to win Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Honors. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

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Borland named conference's top frosh

There was a chance Wisconsin would sweep the Big Ten's four most prestigious conference awards Monday, but the Badgers will happily settle with two of them as running back John Clay was named consensus Offensive Player of the Year and linebacker Chris Borland was named consensus Freshman of the Year.

All-in-all, UW nabbed five first-team selections and 12 mentions overall.

Surprisingly, Clay is only the third Badger to earn Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year honors, joining Brent Moss (1993) and Ron Dayne (1999).

Defensive end O'Brien Schofield was arguably the favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year honors, but Penn State defensive lineman Jared Odrick was handed the honor by the coaches and Michigan State linebacker Greg Jones by the media.

Some thought Bret Bielema had a chance to earn Coach of the Year honors, but Iowa's Kirk Ferentz took home the award Monday. 

Wisconsin All-Big Ten honorees

 

LB Chris Borland, Fr.                    Big Ten Freshman of the Year (media and coaches)

                                                     Honorable mention All-Big Ten (media and coaches)

T Gabe Carimi, Jr.                        First-team All-Big Ten (media)

                                                     Second-team All-Big Ten (coaches)

RB John Clay, So.                        Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year (media and coaches)

                                                     First-team All-Big Ten (media and coaches)

TE Garrett Graham, Sr.                 First-team All-Big Ten (media)

                                                     Second-team All-Big Ten (coaches)

S Chris Maragos, Sr.                    Honorable mention All-Big Ten (media and coaches)

                                                     Big Ten Sportsmanship honoree

G John Moffitt, Jr.                         First-team All-Big Ten (media and coaches)

P Brad Nortman, So.                     Honorable mention All-Big Ten (coaches)

DE O’Brien Schofield, Sr.             First-team All-Big Ten (media and coaches)

QB Scott Tolzien, Jr.                    Honorable mention All-Big Ten (coaches)

WR Nick Toon, So.                       Honorable mention All-Big Ten (media and coaches)

S Jay Valai, Jr.                             Second-team All-Big Ten (coaches)

                                                     Honorable mention All-Big Ten (media)

DE J.J. Watt, So.                           Honorable mention All-Big Ten (media)