Indiana football redshirt senior linebacker Aaron Casey was named to the Butkus Award Watch List Thursday afternoon, per a release from IU Athletics. The award, named after Hall of Fame Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus, honors the nation’s most impactful collegiate linebacker.
Casey — a Douglasville, Georgia native who joined the Hoosiers as a 3-star prospect in the class of 2018 — has been a model of consistency in his time in Bloomington. Since his 2019 freshman campaign, Casey’s appeared in 44 of 45 possible games and made 13 starts.
This past season, Casey started 11 games and recorded 10.5 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and a career-best and team-high 86 tackles en route to an All-Big Ten honorable mention and receiving All-Big Ten Third Team honors from Pro Football Focus.
Including Casey, the Big Ten paces college football conferences with 12 linebackers on the 51-player watch list. The semifinalists are slated to be announced on Oct. 30 and finalists will be named on Nov. 20. The winner is expected to be named on Dec. 6.
