Tar Heels offer Marvin Ridge sleeper K.J. Brent

Two weeks ago, Marvin Ridge rising junior K.J. Brent attended North Carolina’s camp. At the end of the day, North Carolina offered Brent, a kid it had barely heard of that morning, a scholarship on the spot.

And Marvin Ridge coach Scott Chadwick heard that after the workout, Tar Heels coach Butch Davis called Brent “the best wide receiver to come to our camp in the three years we’ve been at UNC.”

Which wasn’t a surprise to Chadwick.

“K.J. started as a freshman, catching 19 passes,” Chadwick said today. “But nobody knew him because he barely played last year. He broke his leg on the first series of our first scrimmage, and missed the entire regular season.”

Brent came back and played in the team’s two playoff games, catching five passes, but after the layoff, “was a shell of his former self,” Chadwick said.

No more. Now he is a finely-conditioned 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds.

“He has every important attribute of a great receiver except outstanding speed,” Chadwick said. “He’s not 4.4 (seconds in the 40-yard dash), but more like 4.65. Other than that, he has great size, and does a great job of using that size. He’s got great hands—he catches everything—and he runs great routes.”

With two more years of high school football to play, that speed could get better, although Brent’s other attributes more than make up for it. Just ask the Tar Heels.

Brent first drew attention at several big combines earlier this year. And recently, he was the offensive MVP for the National Underclass Combine for the Top 100 rising juniors in the Southeast, Chadwick said.

In May, a lot of the bigger programs dropped by to take a look at Brent.

“The only thing keeping him from more offers is we have no film on him,” Chadwick said. “Once people see him in person, they fall in love with him.”

--Stan Olson