It was announced Saturday morning that LSU safety Greg Brooks Jr. would miss last weeks game against Mississippi State for undisclosed reasons. After the Tigers 41-14 win over the Bulldogs, Brian Kelly said at his post game press conference that Brooks suffered a medical emergency.
Fast forward a few days, and Brooks' family put out a statement on Instagram saying that Brooks was taken to the hospital for emergency surgery on a large brain tumor, and that doctors successfully performed the procedure on Friday and the family is still waiting on biopsy results.
It was known earlier this offseason that Brooks suffered a vertigo episode in fall camp. During Wednesday's practice, Brooks began to feel the symptoms of another episode, so Kelly and the staff decided to have him get an MRI to see if there was anything wrong.
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"We were trying to figure out what the symptoms were and he had another episode. He had dizziness again on Wednesday of last week. Finally we said enough’s enough and we got an MRI and that’s when the tumor was located. So the vertigo was just a symptom of what was obviously a larger issue.”
Brian Kelly
Coach Kelly said he has no idea if Brooks will be able to play again this season. He went to visit Brooks in the hospital on Sunday, but he was still heavily sedated and they couldn't have a lucid conversation, but Kelly said before the surgery, Brooks was adamant about playing again this season.
"It’s so hard for me to even know. There are so many unanswered questions. I don’t even know that I could even begin to give you the medical pieces relative to the surgery to even give you an educated answer to that. I saw him in the hospital on Sunday. He’s still coming out of heavy sedation, so we weren’t able to have a lucid conversation but I know before he went in he was pretty clear about playing again this year, but that’s Greg Brooks.”
Brian Kelly
We spoke with some of Brooks' teammates on Tuesday and asked them why Brooks was voted a captain and what he means to the team.
"Greg Brooks means a lot to this team. Greg came here from Arkansas, and he being from New Orleans, he had a dream just to play here his whole life, so him coming back and playing for the LSU Tigers is a big deal. He's not a very big guy, but everybody knows he plays with his heart. He plays hard, he comes downhill and hits and he just means a lot to this program. Everyone knows what he's going through and it's just unfortunate that had to happen to him. A guy that went under the radar then came back home and tried to do everything the right way, so that struck home for us. It hit our hearts hard because he's a leader on this team and him going through that gave us a lot of motivation to just even wake up. Everyday, you never know, it could be your last...He comes in here every day working his butt off. He's not a big guy, but he still made a lot of big plays for us last year. He's just a tough, tough kid and that stuff means a lot to a locker room."
Charles Turner
"Greg Brooks is more of the vocal leader. Just like Mehki [Wingo], we respect him just as much. Whenever the team needs that little boost of confidence, he's there to give the speech to the team...It was very tough, especially seeing he wasn't present at practice and then finding out what happened to him, but he wanted to let us know that he's always thinking about us and that he's going to pull through and that we need to worry about getting the win. That's one of the things I like about him."
Sai'vion Jones
Brooks is one of the unquestioned leaders of LSU's defense. Since transferring from Arkansas, he's become a fan favorite and was ready to have a huge senior season.
Brooks was named a captain for this LSU team this offseason, and even if he's not on the field, he will continue to be a leader and motivator for this Tigers team.
