Brendan Flakes
Brendan Flakes
Wins his gap play after play. He has spent three seasons in the Northwestern defensive front. The receipt: 7 tackles, 0.5 TFL against Purdue — Week 8, 2025.
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
- positional archetype classification
- seasons on the roster
- game log
Career Arc
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
1 coachPlayed his entire career under David Braun.
2025 snapshot
Season context · Team result + system
Splits & context
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
David Braun
Awards
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 1 · 2-deepR04 · Rotational
Rotational. Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.
Career stats
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Northwestern | 18 | 6 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1 | -- | -- |
| 2024 | Northwestern | 11 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2 | -- | -- |
| 2023 | Northwestern | 15 | 7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 44 | 17 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 3 | -- | -- |
Signature game
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 7 · 2025
W 22–21
at Penn State
4 TOT · 2 SOLO
A wire-to-wire battle — won by 1 on the road.
How he plays
Play style
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
CFB Index positional classification
2026 Outlook
Northwestern
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Defensive line · Northwestern
Returning around him
- 2 Northwestern players drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: +9 net (17 in / 8 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Northwestern · Last season: 7-6 · Talent rank #57 · 2026 recruiting class #52
DNA match
Player DNA
Two-Gap Base
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Esaias Carpenter’s 2021 season.
Matches Esaias on
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Troy Pikes's junior season at South Carolina (2025).
Matches Troy on
Differs from Troy on
Background
2025 Redshirt Junior: Started all 13 games … Recorded a career-high 18 total tackles with six solo tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss, a pass breakup and a fumble recovery … Registered his first game of the year with multiple solo tackles (two) against Penn State (10/11) … Set career-high in tackles (...