LSU coach Brian Kelly responded on Wednesday to claims made on national television that he showed little concern for Greg Brooks Jr.’s well-being after the defensive back’s football career was ended by emergency surgery to remove a brain tumor.
“You can question me as a football coach. You can question me in terms of the things that we do on the field. But off the field, as a parent, as a husband, as somebody that is actively involved in every community that I’ve been involved with, this is where the line is drawn with me,” Kelly said during a press conference where he was supposed to discuss transfer players.
“That comment struck a nerve with me,” Kelly added. “It hit my heart.”
Kelly was responding to a remark made by Brooks’ father on ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday.
“My son almost lost his life, coach,” Greg Brooks Sr. said, claiming his family had not heard from Kelly since October 2023. “Where were you? Forget about football. Pick up the phone and say you love the kid, man.”
Brooks is suing LSU, claiming that the university was slow to check his symptoms and allowed an unqualified doctor to perform brain surgery in September 2023, right after he was diagnosed with medulloblastoma.
Brooks suffered multiple strokes during the surgery, according to the lawsuit. He has had to relearn how to eat and write, still has trouble speaking, and cannot walk.
The lawsuit states that Brooks first showed symptoms during a preseason practice, including nausea, dizziness, and headaches. It also claims LSU coaches pressured Brooks to play in LSU’s first two games that season, telling him he could lose his starting position if he sat out.
More than a month after his symptoms began, LSU sent Brooks to a neurologist who discovered the tumor, the lawsuit says.
“It is factually incorrect to state that I was not there by Greg’s side through this ordeal,” Kelly said. “I was there on multiple occasions. We had somebody from my staff that was there virtually every single day.”
“We love Greg,” Kelly added. “We love him for the person that he is, for the competitor that he is, and the battler that he is, and can only wish him continued progress as he goes through an incredibly difficult time. But it was important for me to set the record clear as to my care or my love for Greg.”
