Golden Bear Roster Rundown: No. 25, DeCarlos Brooks

DeCarlos Brooks came to Cal last summer, coming in for Fall Camp along with a class of six commits from the state of Arizona. Brooks came into a relatively unsettled running back room, earning some reps during camp, including leading the team in rushing during one of the later scrimmages.

Brooks ended up not playing in 2019, as Chris Brown Jr., Marcel Dancy, and DeShawn Collins ended up taking all the reps at the running back spot for the Bears.

Brooks will have a crowded running back room to navigate in 2020, as Cal has four guys who may be ahead of him at this juncture, with Brown, Dancy, Collins, and Wisconsin graduate transfer Bradrick Shaw fighting for reps in a conference-only season. It's conceivable that Brooks gets on the field, thanks to that conference only schedule (or whatever the season looks like), but he has an uphill battle for playing time regardless.

Brooks could see some time on special teams for one of the coaches who recruited him in Charlie Ragle. The redshirt freshman running back played defensive back a bit in high school, which could help him get on coverage teams.

Brooks, a three star running back in the class of 2019, committed to Cal in July of 2018, choosing Cal over offers from Oregon State, Memphis, and Army. Brooks was relatively underrecruited, owing to backing up a 2000 yard rusher in Northwestern's Drake Anderson as a junior. Brooks still rushed for 1352 yards and 14 touchdowns that year.

As a senior, Brooks broke out as the Arizona 6A offensive player of the year, rushing for 2229 yards and 37 total touchdowns (34 rushing and 3 receiving), with 17 of those touchdown coming in the playoffs, as Brooks' Chandler squad went 13-1 on their way to a state championship win.