Seven Indiana Football Players Named to Senior Bowl Watch List

Indiana football players Jacob Mangum-Farrar, LeDarrius Cox, Aaron Casey, Andre Carter, Zach Carpenter, Matthew Bedford and Philip Blidi have been named to the 2023 Reese's Senior Bowl watch list.

Seven Indiana football players have been named to the 11th annual Reese's Senior Bowl watch list. 

Making the list from the Hoosiers is linebacker Jacob Mangum-Farrar, defensive lineman LeDarrius Cox, linebacker Aaron Casey, defensive lineman Andre Carter, center Zach Carpenter, offensive tackle Matthew Bedford and defensive lineman Philip Blidi. 

Seven Hoosiers on the @SeniorBowl Watch List. pic.twitter.com/RTdeJ1XKEI

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) August 23, 2023

The Senior Bowl is a college football all-star game held following the conclusion of the season and prior to the NFL Draft. Multiple high-profile NFL Draft prospects are invited, though it must be players who are not foregoing eligibility to enter the draft, and instead entering after playing for at least four years at the college level. 

Funnily enough, this is the second year in a row where Indiana has had seven players named to the preseason Senior Bowl watch list. In 2022, the Hoosiers' Shaun Shivers, Luke Haggard, Cam Jones, Jaylin Williams, Tiawan Mullen, Devon "Monster" Matthews and Matthew Bedford were put on notice by the Senior Bowl in the preseason. 

This is the second year in a row Bedford has been on the list, as the offensive lineman missed nearly the entire 2022 season after suffering an injury in the season opener against Illinois. 

What stands out with the group of seven on the watch list in 2023 is that four of them are first-year Indiana players for Coach Tom Allen and the Hoosiers. The quartet of Mangum-Farrar, Cox, Carter and Blidi transferred in to IU from Stanford, Ole Miss, Western Michigan and Texas Tech, respectively. 

Casey is perhaps the least surprising name on the list, as he's nominally the leader of the entire team entering 2023. The sixth-year linebacker from Douglasville, Ga., led Indiana's defense with 86 tackles last season, and is one of just a handful of returning starters on the team. 

Additionally, Casey wears the No. 44 jersey for IU in honor of George Taliaferro. At Big Ten Media Days, coach Allen said that the team came up with the tradition of, "selecting a player each year that will wear that number (No. 44) that best represents the work ethic, dedication, integrity and perseverance that George Taliaferro displayed." 

Carpenter, meanwhile, is one of the steadiest players on the Indiana roster. He started 10 games in 2022 after missing two early contests with injury, and should play a key role on an offensive line that expects improvement under new position coach Bob Bostad. 

Being named to the preseason watch list does not guarantee one's spot in the Senior Bowl. The game in Mobile, Al., is still several months away, and the Senior Bowl website itself says that, "Senior tape is the most critical criteria in our selection process and every senior will be re-evaluated based on their tape this fall."

But still, this is a great honor for these seven Hoosiers, who Indiana football fans should be expecting big things from this fall. 

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