CHICAGO – This week marks the unofficial start of the Big Ten Football season. Well, not exactly. We are still more than a month away from the start of games but Big Ten Media Days in Chicago is the light at the end of the long tunnel of the summer with fall camp just around the corner and conversations shifting almost exclusively to football and the upcoming season.

13 of the league's 14 teams (Nebraska will not attend after the recent and tragic death of punter Sam Foltz) will meet the conference media over the next two days and talk about expectations as the Big Ten looks to stake its claim as being the top conference in college football.

Ohio State will get its chance to speak on Tuesday with Urban Meyer kicking off Ohio State availability at 10:30 am (EDT) for televised comments and then Meyer, Raekwon McMillan, Pat Elflein and J.T. Barrett will spend the afternoon with the media to wrap things up in smaller breakout sessions.

A pair of Buckeyes were honored by a media panel as they picked five players from each division as preseason honorees (the league did away with preseason Offensive and Defensive players of the year several years ago).

East Division

J.T. Barrett, Jr., QB, Ohio State

Raekwon McMillan, Jr., LB, Ohio State

Jabrill Peppers, Jr., LB/DB, Michigan

Malik McDowell, Jr., DL, Michigan State

Saquon Barkley, So., RB, Penn State

West Division

C.J. Beathard, Sr., QB, Iowa

Desmond King, Sr., DB, Iowa

Justin Jackson, Jr., RB, Northwestern

Anthony Walker Jr., Jr., LB, Northwestern

Corey Clement, Sr., RB, Wisconsin

With only the Ohio State head coach and three players in attendance at Big Ten Media Days, the questions will be somewhat limited and more things will be in focus when Ohio State holds its team media day at some point in early August. But there are still some questions that people will want to know the answer of, regardless of who is at the podium when the Buckeyes are front and center. A few of those questions include:

How does the running back position shape up moving forward? With the departure of Bri'onte Dunn, how do the carries get split up. There is no doubt that J.T. Barrett will have several designed runs per game and the read option will lead to more runs. But does Mike Weber see the majority of the running back carries or does this mean more of a hybrid role for someone like Dontre Wilson or Curtis Samuel? Does Antonio Williams get elevated into a more prominent role with a strong fall camp? There may not be any answers immediately with fall camp still in the future but with no Ezekiel Elliott in the huddle, the Buckeyes will have to rebuild a run game that carried the team to a 12-1 season last season.

How will the new look secondary be comprised? Vonn Bell, Tyvis Powell and Eli Apple are not walking through that door in 2016. Couple that with the fact that the secondary was depleted during spring practice and it means that fall camp will mean that much more as the team tries to find three guys to fill out around Gareon Conley. Injuries kept several players either out or slowed down as the 2015 secondary saw injuries not allow for much in the way of building any experience for younger guys. This is going to be another position group that will have to come of age quickly with Baker Mayfield and Oklahoma waiting for them in week three. None of the players in attendance will have much in the way of insight on what Meyer, Greg Schiano and Kerry Coombs are thinking about the corner and safety positions, but that won't keep fans from wanting to know how Ohio State's secondary will look as the season opens.

Who will be the top targets to catch the ball? We already hit the running game but the passing game will mean just as much, if not more. Teams will expect the Buckeyes to be a run-first type of team and Urban Meyer has said he wants a more balanced style of offense. That will all be predicated on who will be out running routes and catching passes. The Ohio State pass game took a major hit almost 12 months ago when Noah Brown went down with a catastrophic injury and Brown should be in good shape now, but has he had enough time to work with Barrett on timing and will he be as big of a factor this year as everyone was talking him up last season? Will this be the year that Terry McLaurin, James Clark and Parris Campbell will all contribute to the offense? All three players keep getting mentioned as potential difference makers but talk is just that, talk. Young guys like redshirt freshmen K.J. Hill and Torrance Gibson and true freshman Austin Mack all could play big roles along with 5th year receiver Corey Smith.

How do Greg Schiano and Greg Studrawa fit into the plans? No matter how good a new position coach is, it takes some time to fit within the framework of the existing plans or to install new ones. Ohio State saw some immediate improvement with the addition of Chris Ash when he joined the staff, but he is gone now. Does Schiano's plans mirror the teaching and schemes of Ash or will there be a learning curve? Studrawa replaces Ed Warinner at the OL coaching position but Ed is still on the team at tight ends. This one may be even more important to watch with a young line that returns a pair of starters with Elflein and Billy Price but does not have much in the way of experience outside of Jamarco Jones who acted as the Ohio State's 6th offensive lineman in 2016.

There are plenty more questions and we will look deeper into many more of them before the start of fall camp.