Football Dreams Rekindled for Recent Exoneree

One week after kidnapping and rape charges against a former Southern California high school football player were dismissed, multiple NFL teams have come calling. Brian Banks was forced to give up on his collegiate football dreams in 2002 when he took a plea deal to avoid trial and the risk of a lengthy prison sentence. His case gained notoriety last week when he was exonerated of the charges after serving five years in prison and another five years as a registered sex offender.

Banks is represented by the California Innocence Project, and in the week since charges were dismissed against him, it  has received calls from several professional football teams inviting him for workouts and tryouts.

Before charges were brought against him, Banks had a verbal commitment to play college ball at the University of Southern California for coach Pete Carroll who left the university to coach the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks in 2010.

Next Thursday, Banks could get his big break when he tries out for Carroll who now coaches for the Seattle  Seahawks.

Read more about Banks in

ESPN

and the

New York Daily News

.