After trading back not once but twice in the second round, the Indianapolis Colts select Kansas State cornerback Julius Brents with the 44th pick in the NFL Draft. Colt fans are very familiar with Brents. Brents is an Indy native, who went to high school at Warren Central and was teammates with former Purdue star and current Cleveland Browns WR David Bell. Fun Fact: Brents grew up a Colts fan and his favorite player is none other than Bob Sanders.
After earning first-team All Conference Honors three-straight years, named first-team All-County as a junior and senior, and named All-USA Central Indiana squad as a senior at Warren Central, Brents went on to play college football with the Iowa Hawkeyes. He played at Iowa from 2018 – 2020 playing a total of 18 games with 5 starts. In 2021, Brents transferred to Kansas State University where he started 27 games in two seasons. At Kansas State, he recorded 94 tackles and 5 interceptions, 4 interceptions (career-best) came in 2022.
Adding Brents is what the doctors ordered for the Indianapolis Colts secondary, as he fills in a huge void at corner after Colts traded former DPOY Stephon Gilmore to Dallas. Brents stands at 6’3, 198 pounds and is an athletic cornerback who has a chance to start Day 1. Brents ran a 4.53-second 40-yard dash and recorded a 41.5-inch vertical leap at the NFL Combine. He measured at 34-inch arms with an 82 5/8-inch wingspan, making him one of the rangiest cornerbacks in the NFL Draft. Those are the traits Defensive Coordinator Gus Bradley loves in his defensive scheme. Dane Brugler from “The Athletics” wrote this on Brents.
“Extraordinary height, length and wingspan for the position … aggressively uses his long arms at the line of scrimmage to disrupt route timing … fluid athlete to spring in any direction and transition well in his movements (6.63 3-cone and 4.05 short shuttle both ranked No. 2 among all players at the combine) … long-striding acceleration to stay in phase in man coverage … flashes a quick trigger once he sinks to close on plays … eagerly returns his eyes to the quarterback … functional zone-cover skills … has experience at both cornerback and safety … coachable and doesn’t mind being challenged (KSU cornerbacks coach Van Malone: “He is one of the hardest workers on the team and has been since he arrived.”) … started all 27 games at Kansas State the past two seasons.”
Former Colts head coach Chuck Pagano broke down film with The 33rd Team. He said Brents could be the next Richard Sherman for Gus Bradley. Here’s what Pagano had to say.
We will have to wait to see Brents on the practice field as he is recovering from wrist surgery he had back in March but should be ready for training camp at the end of July. It’s going to be interesting, yet exciting to see how Gus Bradley uses Julius Brents, Darius Rush, and Jaylon Jones, who are all long and athletic corners to pair with Kenny Moore, Isaiah Rodgers, Tony Brown, and Dallis Flowers.
