Indiana's Casey, Rudolph Graded Top Five Among Returning Big Ten Linebackers

Indiana linebackers Aaron Casey and Joshua Rudolph rank in the top 10 of Pro Football Focus' highest graded returning Big Ten linebackers.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Pro Football Focus released a list of the top-10 highest graded returning Big Ten linebackers on Tuesday, which featured two Indiana Hoosiers in the top five.

Indiana's Joshua Rudolph is No. 3 on the list with an 83.9 grade, and his teammate Aaron Casey received a 79.7 grade, good for the No. 4 spot. 

Wisconsin's Maema Njongmeta came in at No. 1 with an 89.9 grade, and Ohio State's Tommy Eichenberg earned an 86.7 grade, slotting him at No. 2 overall. 

Here's the full list:

Indiana's Joshua Rudolph and Aaron Casey landed in the top five of Pro Football Focus' highest graded returning Big Ten linebackers / graphic per @PFF_College on Twitter

The Pro Football Focus website shares some insight into how their grading scale works and who grades the players:

"Each player is given a grade of -2 to +2 in 0.5 increments on a given play with 0 generally being the average or “expected” grade. There are a few exceptions as each position group has different rules, but those are the basics. The zero grade is important as most plays feature many players doing their job at a reasonable, or expected, level, so not every player on every play needs to earn a positive or a negative. 

PFF employs over 600 full or part-time analysts, but less than 10% of analysts are trained to the level that they can grade plays. Only the top two to three percent of analysts are on the team of “senior analysts” in charge of finalizing each grade after review. Our graders have been training for months, and sometimes years, in order to learn, understand and show mastery of our process that includes our 300-page training manual and video playbook. We have analysts from all walks of life, including former players, coaches and scouts. We don’t care if you played. Each grade is reviewed at least once, and usually multiple times, using every camera angle available, including All-22 coaches’ tape."

Rudolph, a 5-foot-11, 224-pound linebacker, transferred to Indiana this spring after playing two seasons at Austin Peay. As a freshman in 2021, Rudolph made 21 tackles across seven games.

Entering his sophomore season, Rudolph was named team captain. He played in 11 games in 2022, racking up 73 total tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss. Rudolph posted double-digit tackles against Alabama A&M and Jackson State, and he finished the season with five tackles against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Blind eyes can see that I’m the truth!🗣 pic.twitter.com/wIpFwAvzrG

— Joshua Rudolph (@joshuaRudolph14) November 29, 2022

Before Austin Peay, Rudolph played for coach Lawrence Cole at Park Crossing High School in Montgomery, Ala. After making 105 tackles in seven games during his senior season, Rudolph was chosen to play in the at the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star game. 

Rudolph joins the Hoosiers with two years of remaining eligibility. He enters a linebacker room coached by defensive coordinator Chad Wilt, who will be in his second year at Indiana in 2023. Indiana lost three-year captain Cam Jones and sixth-leading tackler Bradley Jennings Jr. following the 2022 season.

The biggest source of continuity on the Indiana defense in 2023 will come from sixth-year senior Aaron Casey, who was graded No. 4 on PFF's list. Casey stepped up in a major way for Indiana last year after a season-ending injury to Jones. A 6-foot-2, 235-pound linebacker, Casey led the Hoosiers with 86 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and four quarterback hits in 2022. 

Before the season, Casey was chosen to wear the No. 44 jersey in honor of George Taliaferro, who played at Indiana from 1945 to 1948 and was the first African American drafted by an NFL team. Casey has missed just one game since the beginning of the 2019 season, and Pro Football Focus named him a third-team All-Big Ten player in 2022.

Indiana's Aaron Casey celebrates a backfield tackle during the Indiana versus Western Kentucky football game at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 17, 2022 :: Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

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