IU Linebacker Tegray Scales Named to Butkus Award Watch List
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IU Athletics Release
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana senior linebacker Tegray Scales carded a spot on the 2017 Butkus Award Watch List, his fourth preseason accolade, it was announced today. Scales also is a member of the Bronko Nagurski, Chuck Bednarik and Lott Impact Trophy Watch Lists.
Instituted in 1985, The Butkus Award® is one of the elite individual honors in college football. In 2008, The Butkus Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization, took stewardship of the award to fully realize the original purpose of honoring athletic achievement and service to the community while honoring the nation's best high school, college, and professional linebackers. An independent Butkus Award Selection Committee comprised of 51 experts, including professional, college and high school scouts, and prominent sports journalists, conduct the selection process.
Scales earned second team All-America honors from SI.com in 2016 and became the first Hoosiers linebacker recognized on an All-America team since Van Waiters (3rd team) in 1987.
The 2016 Foster Farms Defensive Player of the Game led the nation with 93 solo stops and 23.5 tackles for loss, and he finished first in the Big Ten with 126 tackles (10th nationally). Scales owns the second spot on the program's single-season TFLs list, shares ninth in total tackles and is ninth with 33.5 career stops for loss.
His nine double-figure tackle games in 2016 led the league and ranked third nationally. Scales added seven sacks, a pick-6 and one forced fumble.
The Cincinnati native put together a streak of six straight, 10-tackle games during the regular season. It was the longest streak nationally, the longest streak in the Big Ten since 2012 and the longest streak at IU since at least 1990.
The Butkus Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA) which encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 23 awards boast over 745 years of tradition-selection excellence. Visit www.NCFAA.org to learn more about our story.
The members of the NCFAA are unveiling their preseason watch lists over a 12-day period this month. Seventeen of the association's 23 awards select a preseason watch list and the NCFAA has spearheaded a coordinated effort to promote each award's preseason candidates.
Scales and Indiana will host Ohio State to open the 2017 season on Thursday, Aug. 31, at 8 p.m. EDT on ESPN. The teams will kick off a campaign facing each other for the fifth time (1938, 1952-54) and for the first time in Bloomington. IU last started the year against a Big Ten foe in 1982, a 30-0 whitewashing of Northwestern on Sept. 11.
The Hoosiers will host the fourth Thursday night game in Memorial Stadium history: Eastern Kentucky on Sept. 3, 2009 (W, 19-13); Towson on Sept. 2, 2010 (W, 51-17) and Indiana State on Aug. 29, 2013 (W, 73-35). IU jumpstarted its 2016 Foster Farms Bowl season with aThursday evening 34-13 victory at Florida International on Sept. 1.
Tickets for Indiana's six home games are available by clicking here, by phone at 1-866-IUSPORTS or in person at the Assembly Hall Ticket Office. In addition to the Buckeyes, the Hoosiers will welcome Florida International (Sept. 16), Georgia Southern (Sept. 23), Michigan (Oct. 14), Wisconsin (Nov. 4) and Rutgers (Nov. 18).
Indiana Football Preseason Honors
Butkus Award Watch List - Tegray Scales
Paul Hornung Award Watch List - Devonte Williams
Jim Thorpe Award Watch List - Rashard Fant
Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List - Rashard Fant, Tegray Scales
Allstate AFCA Good Works Team Watch List - Rashard Fant
Chuck Bednarik Award Watch List - Tegray Scales
Lott IMPACT Trophy Watch List - Tegray Scales