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University of Minnesota Athletics
Brooks Collects More B1G Honors
11/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Minnesota freshman running back Shannon Brooks was once again named Big Ten Freshman of the Week after his performance against Illinois on Saturday.
Brooks rushed 17 times for 174 yards and scored on runs of 75, 38 and five yards as Minnesota beat Illinois 32-23. This is the third time that Brooks has been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week. That is the most times that any Gopher has collected the same weekly award from the Big Ten since the conference has been honoring players.
Brooks, who averaged 10.2 yards-per-carry against Illinois, has turned heads this year with his powerful running and ability to score from anywhere on the field. He has seven rushing touchdowns this year and four of them have spanned 75, 71, 40 and 38 yards. Brooks is the first Gopher with four rushing touchdowns in one season longer than 35 yards since Laurence Maroney scored on runs of 93, 73, 67 and 38 in 2005. Maroney also had five rushing touchdowns longer than 35 yards in 2004 (80, 80, 79, 50 and 37).
On the year, Brooks has carried the ball 99 times for 636 yards, which translates to a 6.4 yards-per-carry average. Only four Minnesota players have averaged more than 6.4 yards-per-carry ever. Wayne "Red" Williams averaged 7.73 yards on 128 attempts in 1944, while Laurence Maroney averaged 6.92 on 162 attempts and Francis "Pug" Lund averaged 6.67 on 100 attempts in 1934. Brooks' average of 6.4 is currently the second-most ever behind Maroney for a Gopher in the post-1945 modern era.
Eight of his 99 rushes have resulted in a gain of 20 yards or more, while 16 have been for 10 yards or more and 32 have been for five yards or more. Brooks has only six negative carries this season. He has also completed one pass this year, which resulted in a 42-yard touchdown to Drew Wolitarsky at Iowa. Brooks was the first non-quarterback to throw a touchdown for the Gophers since running back Duane Bennett hit tight end Eric Lair for an 8-yard score at Northwestern in 2010.
Brooks was also named Freshman of the Week on Oct. 12, after rushing for 176 yards and one touchdown at Purdue in a 41-13 win and on Nov. 16 after rushing 14 times for 86 yards and one touchdown at Iowa and also throwing one touchdown.
Brooks and the Gophers continue conclude the regular season this weekend when they host Wisconsin at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28 at TCF Bank Stadium.
