Iowa Football Recruiting: Hawkeyes Land Commitment from 4-Star Indianapolis DB Julius Brents

It’s the first game week of the year in Iowa City and most Hawkeye fans have their attention focused squarely on the Wyoming Cowboys. But the return of football in Kinnick Stadium isn’t the only good football news for Iowa fans this week.

After delaying his decision a couple weeks ago, 4-star Indianapolis safety prospect Julius Brents announced he’ll be joining the Hawkeyes’ class of 2018 via Twitter today.

Along with fellow Indianapolis native DJ Johnson, Brents was atop the Hawkeyes’ big board we ran a couple weeks ago. The two are friends and were made a top priority by the Iowa staff, and recruiting coordinator Kelvin Bell in particular, quite some time ago.

Brents is a 4-star by several recruiting services and projects as a safety at the college level. He’s got good size at 6’2” and 180 lbs and he plays tough, physical football out of the secondary. He sniffs out plays and is really strong in run support. You have to love the clips of him shedding blockers and making a play on the ball-carrier. He’s quick and athletic to makes plays on the ball and isn’t afraid to come up strong to make a tackle.

Brents had a number of power 5 offers, but ultimately chose the Hawkeyes over his other top 6, which included Michigan State, Louisville, Cincinnati, Vanderbilt and the home school of Indiana.

The addition of Brents brings Iowa’s class of 2018 to 13 commitments. Brents is the third defensive back, joining Pennsylvania native Terry Roberts and fellow Indianapolis native DJ Johnson, who committed to the Hawkeyes a little over a week ago. Brents joins the class as the highest rated recruit according to Rivals.

Here’s a look at where things stand with the class of 2018 from a positional standpoint:

Brents joins a growing contingent of Indiana preps making the jump to Iowa in the upcoming classes. In addition to Brents and Johnson, Iowa already has commitments from Tyrone Tracy from the Indianapolis area and Anthony Torres from Mishawaka (near South Bend) in the class of 2018. In 2019, the Hawkeyes already have a commitment from Tyrone’s cousin, Larry Tracy. The two prep together at Decatur Central, along with Tyrone’s younger brother Kenny Tracy who already has some interest from Iowa (in case you were wondering, there is another Tracy brother in 7th grade as well).

Iowa is also working hard to land one of the premier WR recruits in the country in the 2019 class. David Bell is friends with most of the above and Brents’ teammate at Warren Central. So is offensive tackle prospect Justin Britt. This could be quite the pipeline Bell and the staff have established.

Here’s the full list of commitments to-date in this cycle:

Congratulations to Mr. Brents! Welcome to the family and Go Hawks!