Four-star Ballard LB Jared Casey picks Oregon

Four-star linebacker Jared Casey out of Ballard High School announced Thursday night that he will be spending his college career as an Oregon Duck.

Casey picked Oregon over fellow finalists Louisville, Kentucky and Wisconsin.

Adding insult to injury for U of L is the fact that Casey’s primary recruiter is Cort Dennison, who left Louisville for Oregon after last season.

Casey is rated the nation’ s No. 16 inside linebacker by Rivals and the No. 17 inside linebacker by 247Sports. He missed all of his junior season because of injury, but burst onto the scene as a highly touted prospect last summer thanks to his sensational performances at multiple elite camps.

According to every scouting service in existence, the current crop of Kentucky high school football talent is the strongest since the star system became a national thing two decades ago. Seven of the state’s top 10 players have now committed, and none have committed to Louisville (No. 11, Manual running back Aidan Robbins, is a U of L commit).

With Milton Wright (Christian Academy) and Wandale Robinson (Western Hills) both rumored to be leaning towards heading out of state, U of L has to make sure it doesn’t lose Moore defensive end JJ Weaver. The four-star prospect grew up a Louisville fan, but lately his crystal ball has been trending towards to Kentucky.

When you exist in a part of the country that doesn’t typically churn out four and five star talent, you have to capitalize in the years where the area talent is atypically high. There’s still time left, but Louisville is running the risk of missing out majorly here.