Caleb Banks happy with his decision to return
Florida defensive lineman Caleb Banks could have called it quits after his foot snapped during fall camp, compounding an injury he originally suffered during spring practices. He definitely would have been justified in hanging up his helmet when he returned to the field in Week 3, only to re-aggravate the foot and require surgery that was classified as season-ending.
"It's kind of hard, you know, a lot of people told me that it probably wasn't going to be possible for me to come back," Banks admitted, sharing on Wednesday why it was important to not listen to those messages.
"But you know, I talked to my mom, she helped me through a lot. I talked to God. My mom told me my story is already written, and I knew I was going to go back and participate in games."
So Banks, despite Florida's sliding record as the season wore on and the imminent firing of his head coach, was determined to step on the field with his teammates one last time on his own terms. So he made it back for the Gators' final two games of the season. He picked up six tackles in those two games, and recovered a fumble in Florida's finale, a win against their arch rival, FSU.
"I want to play with my brothers. I want to finish hard with my teammates, no matter the circumstances of the season or if we had a head coach or not, I mean, I wanted to go play football."