Kentucky offers seventh grade DB prospect Jairus Brents a football scholarship

On the heels of two scholarship offers to highly regarded eighth grade prospects from top Division I programs, an SEC school blew them both out of the water by handing out a scholarship to a seventh grade defensive back.

This is not a headline from The Onion, it really happened. Seventh grade. 13. Class of 2018. College recruiting is now officially absurd.

The player in question is young (by definition) Jairus Brents, a hard working (for a middle schooler) defensive back and running back from Indiana, where he plays for New Albany (Ind.) Hazelwood Middle School. He will still be playing for Hazelwood Middle School in the 2013 season because he’s still in middle school.

Brents received his first scholarship offer on Thursday when the University of Kentucky extended the teen a verbal offer for when he graduates some six years from now. The news of Brents’ commitment was first reported by ESPN.

Brents brushed off the scholarship offer when interviewed by ESPN as if this was just another day in the life of an average American middle schooler.

"It's not a big deal. It's just an offer," Brents said.
"It's a good accomplishment, but I'm focusing on being the best cornerback ever and working hard."

Derrick Ansley, the Kentucky coach who gave an offer to Brents — Twitter

USC gambled on Sills because he was a quarterback -- a high need skill position which requires significant project -- and was recommended by luminary quarterbacks coach Steve Clarkson. Brents projects as a cornerback, a position that requires an absurd amount of speed and strength. Successful collegiate cornerbacks are freakish athletes, particularly in the SEC.

Apparently, Kentucky feels confident projecting that six years from now, Jairus Brents will be one of the best athletes in the country. They are doing so on the advice of Chris Vaughn, a former NFL player who now runs a training facility in Indiana. Vaughn also happens to be Brents’ godfather.

“[Brents] is a different breed of kid. He's super competitive," Vaughn told ESPN. "He expects to win every route. He's one of those kids who lights up the competition. Jairus is the best skill kid in the state right now."

Of course, Brents is also currently just 5-foot-8 and 152 pounds. He holds a 3.7 GPA, but he is taking seventh grade math courses. There is no trigonometry in seventh grade math. There may not even be any algebra.