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Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck explains why he played embattled RB Shannon Brooks vs. Indiana
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Two weeks ago, Minnesota running back Shannon Brooks was arrested on one count of suspected domestic assault, stemming from an incident that involved his male roommate. The city attorney’s office declined to press charges and Brooks was released from jail the following day.
After much deliberation about the situation, Gophers coach P.J. Fleck felt it was appropriate to allow Brooks — who had been recovering from an ACL tear from earlier this spring — to play in Friday night’s thrilling 38-31 win over Indiana.
“Shannon was physically cleared to play the Nebraska week but with the incident that he had, Mark (Coyle) and I consulted and made a decision based on the information that we had available to us that we decided to play Shannon tonight,” Fleck said during an interview on KFAN 100.3.
Though Brooks’ knee injury was expected to be season-ending, there has been anticipation that he would be back on the field at some point in the year. Fleck has remained adamant about Brooks playing in four games or less this season so that he could retain his redshirt status and be fully available next season.
A huge contributor the last three seasons, Brooks entered Week 9 with 2,030 all-purpose yards and 19 touchdowns in his career, averaging over 5.1 yards per carry. Last night the senior rushed for 154 yards and a touchdown, adding two catches for 11 yards.
Tyler has covered college football on a freelance basis since 2010. In addition to Saturday Football, his work has been featured on ESPN Radio, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, Cox Media Group, Athlon Sports, and more.