Filed under: Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Big 10

FanHouse, meet James Laurinaitis.

James won the Nagurski Award in 2006, then won the Butkus Award in 2007. He’s the reigning and defending Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and he plays for the reigning and defending two-time Big Ten champions.

He is not underrated.

However, we all know of a player or two on our favorite team(s) who are. You know? Those guys who play well every Saturday, always show up with solid numbers on the stat sheet, help their team win games, but get virtually no recognition whatsoever.

Maybe it’s a high-profile teammate. Perhaps the team simply isn’t highly-regarded. Or maybe it’s because a player at the same position is considered that conference’s alpha dog.

No matter the reason, there are many underrated players in the Big Ten. Our top five (in no particular order) follow the jump.

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