Brian Kelly addresses Greg Brooks' lawsuit, accusations against LSU

News broke on Friday that former LSU defensive back and team captain Greg Brooks Jr. is suing the school and its affiliated medical center for negligence. Brooks had his career come to an end after the discovery of a brain tumor last fall.

Greg Brooks Jr. is accusing LSU coaches of inaction and trainers of misdiagnosis, while also levying claims against the surgeon who operated on him.

LSU head coach Brian Kelly addressed the allegations by Brooks during his press conference on Monday.

Kelly did not get into any details but said that the entire Tigers program will continue to love and support Brooks however it can.

“I think it’s well known and we’ve talked about the love that we have, our entire team, for Greg Brooks – a leader, beloved by his teammates, and will continue to have that,” Brian Kelly said. “But unfortunately, lawsuits come out in our culture, our society, every day. And it is what it is. But it doesn’t change the way we feel about Greg.”

Brian Kelly added that his focus isn’t on the lawsuit but is instead on the health and well being of Greg Brooks.

“Our support is going to be there. We hope and pray for only the best for him,” Kelly said. “But when it comes to lawsuits, our kids, players, coaches, we just really focus on Greg. And hope and pray that he’s the guy we focus on and we stay away from anything that has legal ramifications.”

Yahoo Sports obtained the 13-page lawsuit, which was filed in August, last week. It “unearths unreported details of the timeline of events last year related to Brooks’ unexpected turn of events.” He’s “now (a) “permanently disabled” man who still, a year after surgery, cannot walk,” the lawsuit states, per Ross Dellenger.

According to the suit via Yahoo Sports, Brooks began to feel symptoms while at football practice last August, prior to his emergency brain surgery in September. Before an MRI scan discovered the brain tumor, the former Tigers defensive back participated in two football games.

In the legal filing per Dellenger, Brooks “accuses the coaching staff of encouraging him to practice and play while ill by threatening his starting position, and he levies claims against team trainers for not appropriately diagnosing his condition and refusing, for weeks, to recommend him to a neurological specialist.”

Moreover, Brandon Gaynor, a surgeon at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, is having the most serious accusations levied against him: “Brooks alleges that he was left with ‘catastrophic neurological injuries’ and is ‘permanently disabled’ from the brain surgery performed by Brandon Gaynor,” Dellenger wrote.

“During the surgery, Brooks says he suffered ‘multiple strokes’ from ‘acts of malpractice.’ Those alleged acts are being addressed in a medical review of malpractice claims that the family has filed.”