Former Vols linebacker Daniel Brooks died as a result of a single-vehicle SUV crash Sunday morning that occurred shortly before 3 a.m., according to a report from the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Brooks was the only person in the vehicle, according to the report.
Brooks was driving a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe on North Charles Seivers Boulevard. Here is what was said in the story online.
Brooks’s story with Tennessee is one of tragedy, redemption, and just what could have been. He grew up in northern Mississippi and then moved to Jackson, Tenn., becoming a highly touted recruit in the process.
Phil Fulmer and the coaching staff had turned down Patrick Willis’s desire to go to Tennessee because Brooks was to be their star at the position, but he never panned out.
For two years in Knoxville, Brooks had problems staying out of trouble. He got into multiple fights and was eventually off the team before the start of the 2005 season.
He ended up playing at Jackson State and never made it in the NFL.
However, Brooks became a redemption story in part because of Al Wilson. Wilson encouraged Brooks to go back and get his degree from the University of Tennessee, which he did, paying for his schooling and then graduating.
He then had two sons, worked as a law enforcement officer, and had enlisted in the Army National Guard.
Brooks’s loss is truly a tragedy for the Vol family, and despite his issues, you have to believe in somebody who works to redeem himself, which Brooks worked to do.