Brooks, a junior, will redshirt the 2014 season with an undisclosed foot injury. Unfortunately this is just another in a string of injuries that has plagued Brooks since his senior year of high school.
Brooks was the third leading rusher for Clemson last year and everyone was hoping he would be able to step up and contribute more this year. Thankfully Clemson has numbers at the RB position including redshirt senior D.J. Howard, junior C.J. Davidson, and three freshmen in Wayne Gallman, Tyshon Dye, and Adam Choice. Dye is still recovering from his Achilles Tendon tear and it is hard to count on him. I'm going to guess that the injury means all four running backs avoid the redshirt unless Jay Jay is doing well enough that the coaches are comfortable with three true RBs.
While the loss isn't great, Clemson has some potential at RB to help soften the blow. The caveat is that this is an unproven group and with our OL there is cause for concern. It also doesn't help that Brooks was trusted in pass protection. Not something that is easy for a younger back to pick up which means D.J. Howard might be seeing a lot more of the field.
The positive for this is that it may allow Brooks to put on some good weight and still have two years to play at Clemson. Brooks getting above 200 would help him prevent injury and would see him become a solid contributor in 2015.