Kansas State cornerback Julius Brents picked by Indianapolis Colts in second round

Kansas State corner Julius Brents was picked by the Indianapolis Colts in the second round of the NFL Draft in Kansas City. The Wildcats added him as a transfer a couple years ago after he initially began his college career at Iowa.

Additionally, like Felix Anudike-Uzomah, he gets to play in his hometown. He’s a native of the Indianapolis area.

In 2003, the Dallas Cowboys chose Terence Newman with the fifth overall selection, and Chris Canty was selected No. 29 overall by the New England Patriots in 1997. Brents didn’t go quite that high after a sensational career at K-State.

But it wasn’t just his career at Kansas State. He crashed onto the radar of NFL steams via outstanding performances at the Senior Bowl and NFL Combine. Numerous publications and NFL Draft scouts tabbed Brents as a major standout at the Senior Bowl.

While at the NFL Combine, the K-State cornerback lit up Indianapolis during the testing portions. He tallied a 9.99 raw athletic score at the combine, which ranked No. 4 among all cornerback prospects since 1987.

Brents started in all 27 games he was at Kansas State. In 2021, he had 49 tackles, three tackles for loss, three pass deflections and an interception. The coaches named him an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection after his first season in Manhattan.

He carried that into a successful 2022 season as well.

He totaled 45 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, four interceptions, eight pass deflections and forced a fumble in his final year at K-State. The head coaches in the league honored Brents with a first team All-Big 12 selection for his efforts, and the Associated Press tabbed him as a second team all-conference pick.

Brents is the third Kansas State cornerback taken in the NFL Draft since 2018. DJ Reed was chosen in 2018 by the 49ers in the fifth round. The Chicago Bears drafted Duke Shelley in the sixth round in 2019. Neither is still with those teams.

It is also the second year in a row that K-State has had a transfer from the secondary picked by an NFL team. The Los Angeles Rams selected Russ Yeast in the seventh round a year ago.