Greg Brooks Jr.’s world suddenly tilted under the bright stadium lights of an August night three years ago. He was trying to focus on the offense lined up across from him. For weeks, the senior safety and team captain had been fighting through blinding headaches, waves of nausea, and bouts of dizziness so severe he had already collapsed and vomited on the practice field.

Yet there he was, suited up like every other football player dreaming of making it to the NFL, for the Tigers’ early-season games against Florida State and Grambling State. Looking back, those games should have been the least of Brooks’ concerns. But Brooks knew something was seriously wrong, and he begged the program to listen. Instead, he was warned that missing practice could cost him his starting job. The ordeal derailed his football career and changed his life forever, eventually prompting him to file a lawsuit against LSU in 2024. Earlier this week, he provided an update.

“My lawsuit against LSU comes with feelings that are hard to put into words. I feel betrayed, sad, upset, and deeply let down by people I trusted. I gave my all, and I needed to feel that I mattered as a person beyond what I could do on a football field,” Brooks said in a statement on social media.

Normally, LSU should have placed him in concussion protocol after he reported his symptoms. Or even sent him to a brain specialist. Instead, the athletic trainers brushed it off as vertigo. Brooks was told that he had to “man up”, which is common in college football, a hyper-competitive environment where players often have to play through pain and injuries (or illnesses in this case) to show to the scouts that they were tough.

Brooks had to allegedly wait 39 days. That’s how long it took the program to schedule an appointment with a neurologist. An MRI on September 14 revealed a large cancerous brain tumor, known as a medulloblastoma, pressing between his cerebellum and brainstem.

By the following day, he was undergoing emergency surgery to remove it at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, with Dr. Brandon Gaynor performing the procedure.

But the surgery brought an even bigger nightmare. The neurosurgeon allegedly made critical errors during the procedure, causing Brooks to suffer multiple strokes. He reportedly woke up with posterior fossa syndrome, which left him paralyzed, unable to use his right hand, unable to speak for months, and struggling with involuntary head movements. His weight dropped to just 120 pounds. Although doctors eventually declared him cancer-free, the permanent brain damage from the surgery continued to affect his life. As his father put it, “the disease is not the issue” anymore.

In August 2024, Brooks sued LSU, its athletic trainers, and the hospital for medical malpractice and gross negligence. In May 2025, a judge allowed his medical negligence claims against LSU staff to proceed. Brooks continues to hold LSU and head coach Brian Kelly responsible for what he went through.

“I can’t help but feel that what happened to me would have been prevented if LSU had shown me more love, care, and concern instead of treating me like just another number,” he added in his recent social media statement.

“The way my situation was discussed in a 2024 interview added to that pain. There are still things I cannot do to this day, and I’m living with that reality every single day.”

It’s not just the medical decision that Brooks questioned. He was also questioning how a program he represented treated him when he needed help most. Here’s what happened: His lawsuit alleged negligence and medical malpractice. His attorneys have said he cannot walk and has difficulty communicating. He also faces the possibility of needing care for the rest of his life.

The suit also accused LSU of sharing Brooks’ private medical details and using his name and image without permission. The case is still in court.

Questions raised about HC Brian Kelly

The Brooks family had already raised concerns about Brian Kelly. During a 2025 appearance on Good Morning America, Brooks’ father questioned why the LSU coach had stopped reaching out after his son’s medical emergency.

“My son almost lost his life. Coach, where were you?” Greg Brooks Sr. said. “Forget about football. Pick up the phone and say you love the kid, man.”

Brooks Sr. said his son’s condition after surgery was devastating, but what hurt him even more was not hearing from LSU’s coaching staff during such a difficult time.

For many college football fans, the family’s complaints came as no surprise. Throughout his career, Brian Kelly gained a reputation for being cold and overly harsh toward his players. Before LSU fired him in October 2025, former players often described him as distant and disconnected from the locker room. He was also known for publicly blaming athletes after losses and rarely building personal relationships with them.

To critics, the way Brooks was treated after his surgery was just another example of Kelly treating football like a cold business instead of caring about the young men on his team. Kelly, however, denied abandoning Brooks.

He said he had visited him several times and that staff members checked on him almost daily. Brooks’ lawyers also challenged Kelly’s March 2024 claim that their client was walking.

The lawsuit raised other concerns as well. The family alleged that LSU had refused to hand over control of a donation fund set up in Brooks’ name. They also took issue with how his condition was discussed publicly, saying those comments caused further pain, particularly when former teammates heard them.

Despite everything, Brooks ended on a determined note, thanking his family and fiancée while reflecting on his continued recovery.

“Some days are hard, and I won’t pretend otherwise. But I am a fighter, and my mindset is wired different! I’m determined to keep showing up for myself and putting in the work.”

Brooks transferred to LSU from the University of Arkansas in 2022 and had genuine NFL prospects as a defensive back. But his promising football career was taken away from him, and the road ahead remains difficult. Still, Brooks is determined not to let the lawsuit define the rest of his life.