Brooks is framing his baptism as a rededication and recommitment to God after weathering an extraordinary storm of personal tragedy and career setbacks. His team, the Panthers, are positioning his return to full practice as a triumphant comeback story — one where faith pulled him through when his body couldn't keep up.
But dig a little deeper and there's something darker in Brooks' own words: he admits he 'used to use the excuse of being around the locker room' and blamed others for his shortcomings. Sources close to the situation say internal pressure from the organization was intense during his injury absences, with questions about whether he'd ever return to form.
Brooks' father James 'Skip' Brooks died on March 2022 at age 49 due to complications from a blood clot affecting his heart. Brooks was just a freshman at the University of Texas, Austin when tragedy struck. He tore his ACL for the second time in November 2024 after playing only three games over two weeks — and missed both the remainder of that rookie season AND the entire 2025-2026 campaign.
Brooks' story is equal parts inspiring and heartbreaking, but let's not pretend faith alone paid his medical bills or kept his roster spot warm for two seasons. The NFL is a business, and the real test comes when the pads go on — not in a baptismal pool.
Jonathon Brooks has been through hell, and now he's coming out the other side — baptized, reborn, and cleared to play. The Carolina Panthers running back made headlines on Tuesday, April 28, via AP Sports, announcing his recent baptism as a rededication of faith after enduring losses that would break most athletes before they ever reached the pros. "I've been through a lot in my life," Brooks, 22, said.
"I lost my father. I've torn my ACL twice. Every single time I reverted back to my faith." Those words carry weight when you know what he's survived.
His father, James "Skip" Brooks, died in March 2022 at just 49 years old from complications related to a blood clot that impacted his heart. At the time, Jonathon was a freshman suiting up for the University of Texas in Austin — suddenly playing football without the man who raised him. The grief hit hard, but Brooks channeled it onto the field.
He and his brother Jordon got matching tattoos on their right forearms commemorating the date their father died, ink that Jonathon would tap or point toward every time he scored a touchdown at Texas — a silent dedication to Skip. But here's where the story gets brutal: despite being drafted in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft by the Panthers, Brooks has yet to point to that tattoo on an NFL stage because his body keeps failing him.
Brooks entered his rookie season in fall 2024 still rehabilitating from a torn ACL in his right knee sustained during the 2023 college football campaign. He finally made his NFL debut in November 2024, but after playing just three games over the span of two weeks, he tore his ACL again — the second major knee injury of his young career. That setback cost him the remainder of his rookie year and the entirety of the 2025-2026 season.
No touchdowns. No celebrations. Just more surgery, more rehab, more watching from the sidelines.
But on Tuesday, the Panthers confirmed Brooks has been cleared by his surgeon to return to full practice ahead of the 2026-2027 NFL season — and he made sure to announce he'd already taken a major spiritual step in his personal life. "For me, my baptism was a recommitment of faith — to not only change myself, but from that day forward to stop making excuses for my surroundings," Brooks shared, noting he was baptized after learning he'd been cleared earlier this month.
He acknowledged that despite always being 'a man of faith,' his time away from football forced some honest self-reflection: "I used to use the excuse of being around the locker room... and I'd be like, 'Oh, I'm around people who cuss and do all this.' I kept trying to put the blame on others. And in reality, I just needed to check myself." Panthers VP of health and performance Denny Kellington and the training staff now have a plan for Brooks as spring training continues — whether he's spiritually reborn or not, the gridiron doesn't care about baptism certificates.
