Maryland Assistant Elijah Brooks Responds To Chase Young Situation
COLUMBUS, OH - OCTOBER 26: Chase Young #2 of the Ohio State Buckeyes pressures the quarterback against the Wisconsin Badgers at Ohio Stadium on October 26, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
Before taking a job on Mike Locksley's staff at Maryland as running backs coach, Elijah Brooks served as head coach at prestigious DeMatha High School. There, he coached a number of future college stars, including Ohio State's Chase Young.
The timing of last week's news that Chase Young took an impermissible loan from a family friend ahead of last year's Rose Bowl put Brooks back in the spotlight. The news caused Young to be suspended for Saturday's Maryland game,a 73-14 win in which it really looked like Ryan Day was trying to run things up.
During the FOX Sports broadcast, Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt implied that Ohio State thinks someone at Maryland may have leaked the info to the NCAA ahead of the game. During Monday's episode of 247Sports' Bucknuts podcast, one of the hosts said that his sources within the Buckeyes program believed Maryland was involved.
Obviously, Brooks is the easiest person to point to given his previous relationship to Chase Young. On Tuesday night, he took to Twitter to rejected any notion that he would do something like that to a former player of his.
After the news broke last week, Young admitted to taking the loan, and apologized to his teammates. Per reports, he used the money so that his girlfriend could fly out to watch the Rose Bowl, and he repaid the family friend earlier this year.
His absence obviously didn't have a major effect on the outcome against Maryland, and shouldn't this weekend vs. Rutgers either. Ohio State would ideally love to get him back in time for the Nov. 23 game against Penn State, which could decide the Big Ten East. Penn State is coming off of its first loss of the season, at Minnesota.
Some reports indicate that Young may be back after this weekend, while others fear that the suspension could drag out longer. Ultimately, as is often the case with NCAA issues, it is hard to know how things will shake out,e ven for something that feels as minor as this indiscretion, if you even want to call it that.
