The fanbase has been clamoring for Brooks and Lingard non-stop. Maybe the hype train was unwarranted? Both are fast and were highly productive players in high school. Both are also very straight-linish, angular athletes who have dealt with major injuries in recent years. Frierson is another straight-linish guy who was overhyped by the Duassos of South Florida and we saw his stiff hips exposed in the UF game.
At least Lingard was a 5* and there is precedent for straight-linish RBs having success in college when the scheme and blocking provides tracks for them to explode through the line of scrimmage. Darren McFadden and Derrick Henry are high profile examples. Tevin Coleman is also comparable although he has more agility and curvilinear movement than Lingard.
But with Brooks the hype is perplexing. He was a 3* prospect, the #96 rated player in Florida per 247 composite. South Carolina seemed like the only P5 school that really wanted him. Offer sheets and recruit rankings are such a high priority for this fanbase yet with Brooks it gets dismissed. I don't care for that stuff but I do care about traits and Brooks doesn't have traditional off-ball LB traits. Great LBs have change of direction, quick feet, broad frames/girthy builds and the eyes/processing skills to diagnose and make sharp decisions. Brooks has a very narrow high-hipped frame/build, played DE in HS where he had a ton of unblocked and effort-based production, and in the limited exposures of him off the ball he looked stiff and lost in space and in coverage.
I think Brooks can be effective as a run and hit guy who plays shallow zones on the perimeter, which in this scheme would be a Striker who doesn't have man coverage assignments. I also like him as a subpackage pass rusher where he can clean up plays as a delayed blitzer or in stunt packages. I've stated that I see his long-term role as an edge rusher Barkevious Mingo type but he needs to get bigger and develop his pass rush skills to warrant snaps in that role. But if you think he's gonna be an off-ball LB here you're basically hoping that you get a poor man's Matthew Thomas - so maybe an average ACC LB in a best-case scenario. Is that worth getting hysterical about?