Add another pre-draft visitor to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ growing list. According to The Draft Network’s Ryan Fowler, Kansas State CB Julius Brents has a pre-draft visit set with the Steelers. He tweeted the news Thursday morning.
Brents is one of the biggest and longest corners in this class. At the Combine, he checked in at 6026, 198 pounds with incredible 34-inch arms, drawing some comparisons to Tariq Woolen of last year’s class. Brents lacks the straight-line speed, a 4.53 40, but his length and ball skills make up for it. Though tall and high cut, he posted elite agility times with a 4.05 short shuttle and 6.63 three cone. He had a great Senior Bowl week, arguably the top corner in 1v1 drills, and he picked off four passes in 2022 for Kansas State.
Brents’ Relative Athletic Score (RAS) was a whopping 9.99, earning a comparison to Byron Jones.
In our pre-draft profile, our Tyler Wise noted Brents’ alpha mentality and supreme confidence in himself, must-haves for any cornerback. Not just a cover corner either, we noted his ability and desire to come up and support the run. On the negative end of things, Brents had a tendency to get grabby at the top of routes and can panic when the ball is in the air. Despite his frame, he had only 10 career pass deflections, far less than other top corners in the class like Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez (17), Illinois’ Devon Witherspoon (25), Penn State’s Joey Porter Jr. (20), and South Carolina’s Cam Smith (18).
Ultimately, here’s how we concluded the evaluation on Brents.
“Julius Brents is a standout cornerback who possesses a rare combination of size and length. His aggressive, physical playing style is particularly effective in man coverage, where it can challenge and disrupt receivers, making it difficult for them to execute their routes. To maximize his potential in the NFL, Brents must work on avoiding excessive grabbing and improving his ability to track the ball on deep passes.”
Brents, who earned a third-round grade, is currently viewed as a likely top-50 selection.
Brents is one of many names in a deep cornerback class. Pittsburgh is fully expected to draft a corner early, within its top three picks, to help ease the loss of Cam Sutton and add some youth to the room. Be sure to read our full report on Brents below.
