Former Penn State Wrestler Aaron Brooks Faces Potential Suspension

Brooks had surgery recently to address injury issues and later contracted double pneumonia, which prevented him from competing at events such as the 2025 U.S. Open and the U.S. World Team Trials. Brooks told Ryan Holmes of "The Quad Pod" wrestling podcast that he is recovering and working out with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club but has not been participating in live wrestling.

"I’m feeling good; definitely the most sick I've ever been," Brooks said on the podcast in early June. "I've never had something like pneumonia, and I guess double [pneumonia] makes a big difference. Just with my lungs, doing certain things, I couldn't wrestle hard. Even getting up the steps at one point right afterward was hard. Just giving my body time to heal, get the inflamation out and [address] the damage that was done. The main thing for me was not wanting to rush and make things worse and prolong the damage."

John Brooks told the Hagerstown Herald-Mail that his son was hospitalized for four days this year with pneumonia. After being released, Aaron Brooks Aaron took an over-the-counter supplement from a grocery store to "replenish whatever is is that needs to be replenished," his father told the newspaper. John Brooks said that Aaron did not take the supplements to gain a competitive advantage.

"My understanding from the attorney's office is that you're going to be punished harshly if your intent is cheating, getting an edge, whatever," John Brooks told the paper. "Being that he was fresh out of the hospital for a life-threatening situation, we don't anticipate anything big. We think that he'll get 'negligence,' not necessarily 'intent to cheat.'"

John Brooks said that he expects a USADA ruling this week, adding that the family could appeal if they don't agree with the decision. USADA manages and tests athletes who compete on the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams. The agency has not issued a report regarding Brooks' status. According to the USADA website, Brooks has been tested once this year.

Before the 2024 Paris Olympics, NBC Sports called Brooks the "new face of American men's wrestling." Brooks swept David Taylor in a best-of-three series at the U.S. Olympic Trials in State College to earn the 86 kg men's freestyle bid to the Summer Games.

Brooks' Olympic run completed a spectacular 12 months of wrestling in which he won a U23 world title, his fourth NCAA championship and the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials. Brooks went 22-0 on the year with six pins, 11 technical falls and three major decisions. He won 20 of his 22 bouts with bonus points, helping Penn State to Big Ten and NCAA team titles.

At the 2024 NCAA Championships, Brooks went 5-0 with four bonus-point victories to win his fourth national championship and first at 197 pounds. Brooks was named the most dominant wrestler at the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments and won the Hodge Trophy as the nation's most outstanding college wrestler.

On The Quad Pod show, Brooks said that he is moving up to 97 kg and had a target date to compete again in late August for the new Real American Freestyle wrestling league.