Rookie tight end James Casey, who played college ball a few miles away at Rice, has quickly become a fan favorite in his first season with the team. That much was evident in the Go Texan Store this evening, where Casey signed autographs for fans from 6-7 p.m. There was a healthy line of 25-30 people in the store when I went downstairs to check it out.
The always-humble Casey was surprised by the number of fans waiting for his autograph. He remarked to one fan that he "wasn't hardly expecting anybody to be here." One young fan asked him to sign his name on a Rice picture as "Thor," his collegiate nickname. Another fan, Charles Torres from the Barker-Cypress area, brought him a blue No. 86 Texans jersey to sign.
The Texans' marketing department put five custom-made Casey Texans jerseys in the store for the event.
"I'm proud to have it and proud to hang it up in my game room," Torres said. "I'm a big James Casey fan. My sister attended Rice, and we've been following him the past two years that he's been there. We're glad he made the team, and I'm rooting him on."
Casey had never been asked to sign a Texans jersey before, so he didn't know where to sign the jersey at first. After deciding to sign it inside the 6, Casey told Torres, "I'll try to do awesome so it's worth a lot of money some day."
