Former Gophers’ defensive back Benjamin St-Juste is headed to the NFL after being selected 74th overall by the Washington Football Team.

St-Juste became the second Gopher taken in the 2021 draft, as Rashod Bateman was selected late in the first round by the Baltimore Ravens. He follows in the footsteps of former teammates Antoine Winfield, Jr. and Chris Williamson as Gophers defensive backs to be selected recently in the draft. This is the second consecutive year the Gophers’ program has had multiple players drafted in one draft and the third consecutive year at least one Gopher was drafted.

Listed as 6-foot-3, 205 lbs during his time at Minnesota, St-Juste has good size at defensive back, which could bode in his favor. In the pre-draft process, draft experts and evaluators thought St-Juste could play multiple positions in the secondary for whichever team selected him.

St-Juste finished 2019 with 45 tackles, 36 of them being solo, and tied for the team lead with 10 pass breakups. Like Bateman, 2020 was less productive, as he missed the Iowa and Purdue games and finished with only 14 tackles and three pass breakups.