With a karate chop at the football, Warren Central's JuJu Brents shows Colts he's arrived

BALTIMORE - It was the second drive of JuJu Brents' first NFL game, and he saw a football dangling loose in the arms of a man he used to chase down in training camp.

Kenyan Drake was slaloming up the right sideline in Baltimore, nearing the red zone and a double-digit lead for the Ravens. But what Brents saw in that moment was the player he chased down in camp, back when the Warren Central graduate thought he was over the injuries and waiting to make play like this for his hometown team.

Brents broke off of his block on Sunday, sprinted behind Drake and karate chopped his right arm at the ball. It popped out and began to roll to the sideline on a slippery day from the effects of Tropical Storm Ophelia, but Brents was ready to pounce right on it.

"He's a playmaker," strong safety Julian Blackmon said. "We need that."

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Brents' play was the turning point in a game the Colts weren't supposed to win. It was on the Ravens' second drive, which was threatening a second touchdown from Lamar Jackson, in a game where Indianapolis didn't have its dual-threat counterpunch in Anthony Richardson. Instead, the Colts rode two fumble recoveries in a dominant defensive performance to a 22-19 overtime upset.

"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time," Brents said through a postgame smile. "Honestly, it was just a blessing to be out there. ... When you get it taken away from you and you can't be out there, it's tough."

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When the Colts selected him in the second round out of Kansas State this spring, Brents had every reason to expect he'd be starting right away. After trading Pro Bowl cornerback Stephon Gilmore to the Cowboys, the Colts boasted one of the youngest secondaries in the league, and the door flew even more wide open after Isaiah Rodgers Sr. was lost for the season to a gambling suspension.

At 6-foot-3, Brents appeared tailor-made to be the next physical press-man cornerback in Gus Bradley's Seahawks-style, Cover 3-heavy defense.

But a wrist injury lingered throughout the spring and early summer, and he also injured his hamstring. He sat out weeks on end, came back and tweaked the hamstring again. Practice days flew by. A player who had not dealt with many injuries in his football life was quickly becoming known in his hometown as a rookie who couldn't shake them.

Through the first two weeks, defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and defensive backs coach Ron Milus decided to keep Brents as a healthy scratch but promised him playing time would come as his practice reps increased. Brents reached eight of nine practices in the first three weeks, his rise to health coinciding with a game against the Texans in which Darrell Baker Jr. struggled on the outside and C.J. Stroud threw for 384 yards.

"It was never about his focus or, ‘Here’s a young corner, we’ve got to get his mentality right,'" Bradley said. "That part was all there. He’s got a strong focus, a good mentality, a great competitive spirit about him. It was just getting him caught up to where he has a chance to be successful. So, I think that going into a game you never know how guys are going to react.

"But he had that poise."

Sunday arrived and Brents was popping receivers' pads with his 6-foot-3 frame, tackling with authority and living in the gray space that can elevate some cornerbacks to be a cut above. He covered Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews across the field on one pass and broke up a pass with physicality right as the ball arrived.

He was targeted four times and allowed three completions but for just 18 yards. He had four tackles and the forced fumble. The Ravens did not score a passing touchdown.

"Being a young guy in my premiere, I knew they were going to come at me," Brents said. "You just have to have that confidence, especially playing the position I am."

As a rookie playing a premium position, Brents knows rookie moments are bound to arrive. He's already faced some of that adversity with two injuries and two healthy inactive games. But the on-field challenges will come, starting perhaps on Sunday against the Rams and Puka Nacua, a BYU rookie who has exploded on the scene with 30 catches, good for second in the NFL.

But he'll be out there for his hometown team, this time under the lights at Lucas Oil Stadium. His phone can stop buzzing with questions and start buzzing with hype and excitement. The moment has arrived.

"There's going to be some hard days. It's inevitable," Brents said. "But if you keep competing and having the right mentality, you'll keep your confidence."

Contact Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: Warren Central's JuJu Brents flashes skills in NFL debut