Aaron Casey Chosen To Honor George Taliaferro With No. 44 Jersey

Indiana linebacker Aaron Casey was chosen by the Indiana coaching staff to represent George Taliaferro's legacy by wearing the No. 44 jersey during the 2022 college football season. Taliaferro played at Indiana from 1945 to 1948 and was the first African American drafted by an NFL team.

Instead of retiring the No. 44 jersey, the Indiana coaching staff decided to honor George Taliaferro by choosing a player to represent his legacy on the field every Saturday.  

They were looking for an upperclassman and someone who showcases the ideals Taliaferro stood by. The main set of criteria included representing the Indiana football program by being a great teammate, leading the locker room and taking care of business in the classroom.

Mike Pechac, Indiana's Director of Player Development and Academic Enhancement, suggested redshirt senior linebacker Aaron Casey in a conversation with Indiana coach Tom Allen and Mark Deal, Indiana's Assistant Athletic Director from Alumni Relations. 

"Everybody agreed 100 percent," Pechac said in a video posted by the Indiana football Twitter account. 

At first, Casey said he was shocked.

"I don't really know why they wanted to pick me," Casey said. "But obviously they must have saw something in me that I represent what he stood for and the things behind him, so I was blessed an honored to represent him with the No. 44."

Casey – nicknamed Ace, according to Pechac – is entering his fifth year with the Indiana football program. He joined the Hoosiers before the 2018 season after playing linebacker and safety at Alexander High School in Douglasville, Ga. where he was a team captain, all-state and all-region honoree. He totaled 225 tackles, nine interceptions, 10 pass breakups, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries throughout his high school career. 

Casey arrived at Indiana as a three-star recruit ranked just outside the top 1,000 for the class of 2018. He took a redshirt year in 2018 and was named Indiana's special teams scout team player of the year. As a freshman, Casey appeared in all 13 games, contributing primarily on special teams for an Indiana squad that reached the Gator Bowl.

He again played all eight games for the Hoosiers in 2020, seeing time at both linebacker and special teams. Casey posted three tackles and a sack at No. 3 Ohio State, as well as three tackles and one for a loss in the Outback Bowl.

Casey made the first start of his career as a junior during the 2021 season on Nov. 13 against Rutgers with a career-high eight tackles. He saw game action in all 12 of Indiana's games, making 25 total tackles. 

The 6-foot-2, 225-pound linebacker will likely see increased playing time during his upcoming redshirt senior season after the loss of Indiana's leading tackler and middle linebacker Micah McFadden. 

Casey will honor the legacy of George Taliaferro during the 2022 season by wearing No. 44. Taliaferro attended Indiana from 1945 to 1948 where he played seven different positions, most prominently running back. Taliaferro was a member of Indiana's only undefeated football team in 1945 when the Hoosiers went 9-0-1 en route to Indiana's only outright Big Ten championship. 

The Big Ten Network aired a special episode of The B1G Story in 2021, which details Taliaferro's history of breaking barriers for African Americans at Indiana. 

Black students weren't allowed to live in dorms, and they couldn't eat in Bloomington restaurants when Taliaferro was a student, but he worked with Indiana President Herman B. Wells to change that. 

Taliaferro became the first African American drafted by a National Football League team when the Chicago Bears selected him 129th overall in 1949. Taliaferro passed away in 2018, and his statue is now featured outside of Memorial Stadium's north entrance. 

"To me, [Taliaferro] had to fight through adversity so much back in the day to where there was a lot of discrimination going on in the world," Casey said. "He was able to overcome it and pursue his dreams and become the best he could be in a bad situation. 

Being a young black man in the society we live in today," Casey continued. "And just going through that adversity, and I know how much he had went through back in the day, just the struggles and tribulations and having to turn it to a positive at the end of the day and looking at it as something great, it just means a lot."

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