Illinois Football: Johnny Newton earns more Big Ten preseason honors

Illinois football was represented in the Big Ten 2023 football preseason honors on Wednesday.

Ahead of the Big Ten media days, the conference released a list of five players from each division to be recognized as the best of the best from the Big Ten.

From the East, Taulia Tagovailoa from Maryland, Blake Corum from Michigan, JJ McCarthy from Michigan, Marvin Harrison Jr. from Ohio State, and Olumuyiwa Fashanu from Penn State were all selected by the 10-person media panel.

On the other side of the conference, the West had Cooper DeJean from Iowa, Brevyn Spann-Ford from Minnesota, Tyler Nubin from Minnesota, Braelon Allen from Wisconsin, and Johnny Netwon from Illinois receiving the honor.

Johnny Newton continues to rack up accolades with the Illinois football program

It doesn’t come as a surprise that Newton made the list of the best Big Ten players entering the 2023 campaign. The kid has been earning awards and honors the past couple of seasons and it won’t stop anytime soon.

Newton would finish last season with 61.0 tackles, 14.0 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, 3.0 pass deflections, and 2.0 fumble recoveries. He led the way for one of the best defenses in the country, and this great play earned Newton All-Big Ten first-team honors and he was a second-team All-American by all but one outlet.

Entering the 2023 campaign, Newton is already getting some big-time acknowledgment. He is a preseason All-Big Ten first-team defensive tackle by everyone. He is also either a preseason first or second-team All-American by every outlet.

Newton is poised for a special season, and honors like making this Big Ten list is something that he is going to get used to quickly. Illinois has a special player in Champaign. There is a chance that Newton is not only one of the best players in college football, but we could potentially have back-to-back top-five picks in the NFL Draft. That is an incredible thing to say.