Indiana's Aaron Casey Named to Butkus Award Preseason Watch List
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Aaron Casey is a leader for Tom Allen and the Indiana Hoosiers on the football field, and nationally he's respected as one of the top linebackers in the country.
The redshirt senior was named to the 2023 Butkus Award preseason watch list on Thursday. The award is given each season to the top linebacker in college football.
Casey first came to Indiana in the fall of 2018 and has played in 45 games throughout his career, while starting 13 times. In 2022, he started 11 games and recorded a team-high 86 tackles, and for his efforts, he was named to Pro Football Focus' third team All-Big Ten.
The veteran leader has also chosen to wear jersey No. 44 for the second consecutive season in a row to honor Indiana legend George Taliaferro.
"We decided to come up with a new tradition of selecting a player each year that will wear that number that best represents the work ethic, dedication, integrity and perseverance that George Taliaferro displayed," Allen said at Big Ten Media Days, describing the significance behind an IU football player wearing No. 44.
"Aaron Casey is a perfect representation of this honor. Aaron's a graduate with a degree in financial management [and an] All-Big Ten linebacker. He's one of the best returning players at that position in our conference, and he's become one of our best players and one of our best leaders."
The Butkus Award is named in honor of legendary linebacker Dick Butkus, who starred at Illinois at the college level and for the Chicago Bears in the NFL. The 2022 Butkus Award was given to Iowa's Jack Campbell, making him the first Big Ten athlete to win it in 15 years, when Ohio State's James Laurinaitis won in 2007. No Indiana football player has ever won the Butkus Award since it was instituted in 1985.
Casey is one of 12 Big Ten linebackers who was named to the 2023 watch list, along with Michigan's Michael Barrett and Junior Colson, Penn State's Curtis Jacobs and Abdul Carter, Ohio State's Steele Chambers and Tommy Eichenberg, Iowa's Nick Jackson, Wisconsin's Maema Njongmeta, Maryland's Jaishawn Barham, Michigan State's Cal Haladay and Rutgers' Tyreem Powell.
The Big Ten's 12 linebackers on the preseason watch list is the most of any conference, just barely beating out the SEC, which contributed 11 names.
Casey will get his first chance prove he deserves the 2023 Butkus Award on Sept. 2, when Ohio State comes to Bloomington to face Indiana in its season opener.
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