Brendan Flakes holds the LDT · Starter spot in Northwestern Wildcats’s defensive tackle room. Where he sits among the room’s front-line roles:

Brendan Flakes is a 6'4", 291-pound redshirt senior linebacker for Northwestern. A three-star recruit from West Orange High in Orlando, Florida, he committed to the Wildcats in December 2021 and made his collegiate debut against Purdue in 2022. In 2025, Flakes started all 13 games and recorded 18 total tackles, six solo tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss, one pass breakup, and one fumble recovery. His performance against Purdue on October 18 marked a career-high seven tackles while also logging 0.5 TFL and a fumble recovery. He was named Academic All-Big Ten in both 2023 and 2024.

Northwestern2022 — present