UNC Football: British Brooks will miss the 2022 season due to a season-ending injury

UNC’s football season hasn’t even started yet and we already have received some back-breaking news.

Per Inside Carolina, Tar Heels running back British Brooks will miss the 2022 season after a season-ending lower body injury. At this time we do not have any specific details about exactly what kind of lower body injury it is, but what we do know is that this is a pretty big blow to the football team. Brooks showed a lot of promise last season when he got snaps, and now it’s very possible that we never see him suit up in a Carolina uniform again, as he returned to the team as a grad student.

I recently wrote the positional preview for the Carolina running backs, and here is what I had to say about Brooks:

As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, British Brooks will return for his graduate season with the Tar Heels, and it’s very likely that he is the starter at least for the first game of the season. He was impressive in November last season, and was especially productive yardage-wise in his 124-yard performance against NC State. He also ran the ball five times against South Carolina in the Duke Mayo Bowl for 72 yards and a touchdown, so of all of the returning backs, he is definitely the one that has proved the most in live action.

Now here is the silver lining: the running back position is pretty deep this season — D.J. Jones, Caleb Hood, George Pettaway, and Omarion Hampton are all viable options for Mack Brown and Phil Longo, but the question will be which of these backs they have the most faith in. There is also the very real possibility that even before Brooks got injured that we would’ve seen a few running backs sharing snaps, so we will see which direction Brown goes in from here.

Whether there’s a solution to the problem or not, losing British Brooks for the season is a huge bummer. Hopefully he will have a speedy recovery, but for the Heels, it is for sure time for the next man up. Who do you think will take Brooks’ place in the starting lineup? Let us know in the comments below.