Oklahoma Sooners Football: RB Daniel Brooks Retires From Football

Redshirt senior running back Daniel Brooks announced his retirement from football this morning due to concussions, confirming a story first reported by SoonerScoop.com. Brooks’s retirement comes just days after linebacker Tay Evans was medically forced to retire for the same reason.

Brooks will end his five-year OU career with 36 carries and 176 rushing yards. Brooks saw the field in every contest in 2014, and 10 games in 2015, but became OU’s fourth option this season with the arrival of Abdul Adams. The emergence of Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon kept Brooks from receiving significant touches during his OU career.

Brooks was also used occasionally on special teams.

Brooks becomes just the latest Sooner to miss time or retire due to concussion symptoms, joining Evans and Jamal Danley in retirement while Charles Walker, Matt Romar, Will Johnson and Dahu Green have all had to sit in concussion protocol.

It is unclear whether the Sooners are handling their concussion protocol differently or more stringently than other teams, but they have certainly been disproportionately affected by head injuries this season. Brooks’s retirement will leave the Sooners thin at a position where one player, Rodney Anderson, is already sidelined for the season due to injury.