What’s going on with Marcel Brooks?

Marcel Brooks is still with the TCU Football program as of this writing, but that result seems in doubt after a series of social media posts that seemed to indicate that he was on his way out.

Drew Davison, the TCU beat reporter for the Star-Telegram was able to confirm that he was still on the active roster Monday, with the ominous “he is a Frog” from an unnamed source.

He remains on the active roster on www.gofrogs.com as well.

Leading up to that point, rumors were rampant that Brooks has left the program after going “live” on Instagram and making statements that “there is more to life than X’s & O’s” and talk of offers to be an influencer and make money outside of football. Due to the nature of Instagram Live’s programming, videos are deleted almost immediately after posting.

Brooks is the highest-rated defensive player ever to sign with the Frogs; a five-star prospect out of Flower Mound Marcus, Brooks was the No. 17 overall player in the nation in the 2019 class and regarded as one of the nation’s top linebacker prospects, eventually signing with LSU out of 21 offers. As a true freshman, Brooks appeared in 11 games for the Tigers, racking up 8 tackles with 1.5 sacks on the year before surprising everyone and leaving the National Champions to head closer to home as a member of the TCU Football program.

Brooks is an unquestioned talent, but much to the chagrin of Frog fans, has hard a hard time seeing the field through three games this season. He arrived in Fort Worth as a hybrid safety-linebacker, and was seeing time at LB and defensive end during fall camp. On the initial depth chart, he was listed as third string at both linebacker and defensive end. Against Iowa State he had just two defensive snaps, recording a QB hurry and a tackle on special teams in limited action. He was hurt early against Texas and was listed as questionable against Kansas State — and did not see playing time against the Wildcats. At 6’2” and 205 pounds, the speedy defender is capable of playing on all three levels of the defense, and could certainly aid a pass rush that has produced just four sacks through three games with a pass rush score of just 58.7 — the second worst grade among active programs. TCU pass-rushers have hit opposing QBs seven times and hurried them 25, just an abysmal start for a program that made it’s bread on living in the backfield.

When he has been questioned about Brooks’ lack of playing time, Gary Patterson has hinted that the sophomore may be struggling with the play book, saying before the game at Texas “We’ll see how he practices; what he knows and doesn’t know. He will have a role in this ball game. How big it is will be determined by what he knows and how much he can do.”

According to sources, Patterson himself met with the young defender and the two agreed to move forward together.

The Frogs have a bye week before welcoming in an equally-desperate Oklahoma team, though the Sooners are coming off of a win — and a bye week of their own. Whether things will have changed for Brooks by then — and if he will be a bigger part of the game plan — remains to be seen.