Gophers' Kerry Brown dubbed top 'sleeper' heading into 2025 season

Gophers' star Koi Perich continues to generate all of the headlines, which has overshadowed the return of redshirt sophomore safety Kerry Brown.

ESPN's Adam Rittenberg published an article on Wednesday titled Which sleeper college football players could break out in the 2025 season? Brown was one of 43 players mentioned.

"Big Ten fans and others probably know about Minnesota's other safety, Koi Perich, the first-team All-Big Ten defensive back who might be the closest thing to Travis Hunter in 2025 as he takes on a significant role for the offense," Rittenberg wrote. "But Minnesota also is excited about Brown, who performed well during his first season as a starter, finishing third on the team in tackles and showing active hands in pass coverage. He had pass breakups in each of his last two games, and made several of his biggest tackles on fourth down, where Minnesota thrived (15th nationally in fourth down defense)."

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Brown signed with Minnesota in the 2023 high school recruiting class. Hailing from Naples, Florida, he was viewed as a three-star prospect and ranked as the 927th-best player on the 247Sports Composite. He chose the Gophers over top offers from NC State, Louisville and Illinois, among others.

He played 65 snaps in a 2023 redshirt year before a breakout 2024 campaign. Last season, he played 528 defensive snaps, recorded 63 total tackles and two interceptions. He even earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week for a two-interception, four-tackle performance against Nevada.

"Kerry Brown is a very special football player," Minnesota defensive coordinator Danny Collins told ESPN in the story. "He is a star on our team, and he's ready to take that next step. He can do everything. We put him at nickel, we put him at strong [safety], we put him at free [safety], he plays dime on third down. He can do everything. His coverage right now is the best that it's ever been. He just has a great feel for the game. He can track the ball deep throws, he's a guy that has a great ability to blitz and he can bend and blade and get his body in different positions to get through the line of scrimmage."

Perich is already a household name for some on the national scale, but Brown deserves to be mentioned among the best players on the Gophers' roster. The Naples native has all the traits to be the next safety that Minnesota sends to the NFL.