Some NFL dreams never die - The Brian Banks story (1 Viewer)

[KellysHeroes]

great story and hope he makes it; but explain to me how you can sue the legal system when you plead guilty. The attorney should be sued for giving inproper legal advice.

 

[Faust]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap10...anks-gets-his-shot-at-falcons-rookie-minicamp

Brian Banks runs defense at Falcons' rookie minicamp

Brian Banks is 27 years old. It's not a normal age for an NFL rookie, but normal isn't really in the equation when talking about Banks' life and football career.

A former high school star who essentially lost 10 years of his life over a crime he didn't commit, Banks is getting his shot at an NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons.

Playing in a rookie minicamp with players who mostly are six years younger than him, Banks ran the defense at the middle linebacker spot, according to the Falcons' official site.

It's a sharp learning curve for a player who never saw a snap of college action.

"It was real good today to get out there. I've been in film the last two weeks so to get a chance to get out there and put all the knowledge that we've been putting on paper out onto the field was a really good experience for the first time," Banks said. "It was really fast-paced. I made a lot of really good moves, made a lot of mistakes, so adjustments will be made."

Banks later tweeted about his first practice session.

@BrianBanksFREE

I want to thank Coach Smith and the @Atlanta_Falcons for this opportunity. And thank u EVERYONE for the well wishes and support ! #RiseUp

The NFL is not a place of charity. Roster spots are too valuable, and Banks won't make the Falcons on goodwill alone. He'll need to show he's physically ready and mentally connected to a game that moves much faster than it did in his high school days.

If he's on the field at the Superdome in Week 1, consider it one of the NFL's great underdog triumphs.

Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @DanHanzus.

 

[Faust]

Brians Banks' accuser ordered to pay $2.6 million to school district

By John Breech | CBSSports.com

Wanetta Gibson, the woman whose false rape accusation led to Falcons linebacker Brian Banks spending five years in prison, has been ordered to pay the Long Beach Unified School District $2.6 million, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported.

Gibson was awarded a $1.5 million settlement from the school district in 2007 after she filed a civil suit stemming from the 2002 rape accusation. The rape was alleged to have occurred on the campus of Long Beach Polytechnic High School. In the lawsuit, Gibson accused the school district of having lax security and fostering an unsafe environment at Long Beach Poly.

In February 2011, Gibson reached out to Banks on Facebook and requested him as a friend, according to the Los Angeles Times. Banks declined the request, but did ask Gibson to meet with him.

In that meeting, Gibson admitted to lying about the alleged rape in a conversation that was recorded by a private investigator. That tape eventually led to Banks' exoneration in May 2012.

On the tape, Gibson said that she was reluctant to tell prosecutor's the truth because she didn't want to lose the $1.5 million that she had been awarded in the civil suit against the school district.

Gibson, who only received $750,000 of the $1.5 million settlement, will now have to pay the school district $2.6 million. The total includes paying back the $750,000 she received, plus attorney's fees, interest and $1 million in punitive damages.

Banks has slowly been piecing his life together since being exonerated in May 2012. The 27-year-old signed a contract with the Falcons in April and will be headed to training camp with the team in July.

 

[Craig_MiamiFL]

Fu(king (unt . Should be paying that back (which will never happen) and spending equal time in prison.

 

[matttyl]

She won't see any jail time from this?! I mean, come on! An eye for an eye, right?

 

[Faust]

Falcons’ Brian Banks: I ate myself alive with negativity

By Dan Hanzus

Around the League Writer

If you follow football, you know the basics of the Brian Banks story.

A top high-school recruit ticketed for USC, Banks' life was torn apart when he was falsely accused of rape, then sent to prison for five years after being woefully misrepresented by his counsel.

Banks, 27, eventually managed to clear his name and now attempts to follow through on his dream of playing in the NFL. He signed with the Atlanta Falcons in April and will attend training camp starting next month.

For a more personal glimpse into Banks' incredible journey, we highly suggest you check out Rich Eisen's conversation with the linebacker in the latest edition of "The Rich Eisen Podcast." It's a Q&A that gives you a much better idea of what Banks went through and how he was able to move forward.

"I woke up one day honestly and it just dawned on me that I'm sitting here and I'm angry at the world and I want this revenge and I want somebody held accountable for what happened to me," Banks recalled to Eisen. "And I'm realizing that all this negative energy that I had and all this anger I have for these people they didn't even know and didn't even care.

"So it was at that time I realized I was eating myself alive with this negative energy. With the way that I felt, I was doing nothing but destroying myself because it meant nothing to the people I had that anger for."

Some really candid stuff from Banks, who's a man worthy of your respect -- if he sticks with the Falcons or not.

Subscribe to "The Rich Eisen Podcast" on iTunes.

Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @DanHanzus.

 

[Faust]

Brian Banks launches blog for Atlanta Falcons camp

By Dan Hanzus

Around the League Writer

Brian Banks has waited 10 years for the opportunity that begins when he arrives at Atlanta Falcons training camp Wednesday.

Banks once was a high-profile recruit ticketed for USC before a false rape charge led to a five-year prison sentence and five additional years of house arrest. Now exonerated of the crime, he's attempting to fulfill his dream of playing in the NFL. Banks candidly retold his life during a recent edition of "The Rich Eisen Podcast."

Banks launched a new blog Monday. The 27-year-old linebacker's first entry detailed the excitement of his opportunity with the Falcons.

"Tomorrow marks another great day, as I travel back to Flowery Branch, GA. Another great mission, another defying act," Banks wrote. "The odds are against me ... But the odds know me well. And although doubt surrounds me, there is no doubt in my mind, there is no fear in my heart. And as I step onto that field day for training camp, and throughout, I will do it with the mindset of a winner. I went to hell and back, and survived a better man."

Definitely worth a bookmark as one of the NFL's greatest underdog stories ever unfolds in real time.

Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @DanHanzus.

 

[osubg1]

You can hear the story from Brian Banks himself on Rich Eisen's podcast from about a month ago. It's one of the best podcasts I've heard.. incredible story. Everyone should watch how this plays out, I really hope he makes it.

 

[mr roboto]

That podcast was great. Seriously, I'm so pissed off at the accuser and at his lawyer.

 

[Anarchy99]

You know, I really need to slow down when reading. I thought the thread title was "Some NFL dreams never die - The Briana Banks story." I had a COMPLETLELY different concept of what this thread was going to be about. Hey, I admit it, my mind is usually in the gutter . . .

 

[citsalp]

Pic here from the AJC says 'Banks kneels to pray before taking the field'
This guy is so grateful for the chance. I truly hope he can put it all together

http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/lt/lt_cache/thumbnail/615/img/photos/2013/07/25/71/d1/072613_falcons_CC9.JPG

 

[Faust]

Brian Banks makes his NFL debut with Atlanta Falcons

By Marc Sessler

Around the League Writer

In the closing minutes of an otherwise forgettable preseason affair, Atlanta Falcons linebacker Brian Banks had his moment.

By now, you've heard of Banks.

A premier high school recruit on tap to play for USC, Banks' life was flung off course when he was falsely accused of rape and sent to prison for five years. He eventually managed to clear his name and pursue his dream of an NFL career.

Banks, 28, signed with the Falcons in April and earned his first pro snaps in Thursday night's 34-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

"I feel completely relaxed," Banks said before kickoff, per ESPN's Lisa Salters. "I thought I might be nervous, maybe a little giddy, maybe it hasn't hit me yet."

Banks then acknowledged: "Why should I be nervous? This is just football. Nervous ... is when I was walking into a courtroom and waiting to see if I was going to be sentenced to go to prison."

After roughly a decade away from the sport, Banks notched his first NFL tackle Thursday, stopping Bengals running back Dan Herron late in the fourth quarter. Banks is a long shot to make the Falcons' roster, but stranger things have happened. Especially to Banks.

For more on Banks' amazing story, listen to his recent appearance on the "Rich Eisen Podcast." After hearing Banks share what he's endured, it's impossible not to root for the man.

The Around The League Podcast is now available on iTunes! Click here to listen and subscribe.

 

[Faust]

Brian Banks ✔@BrianBanksFREE

Game Day. Never thought this day would come. And if it all ended here tonight... Mom, I did it.… http://instagram.com/p/cwkAsqnEkG/

 

[Faust]

Excerpt from Peter King's MMQB:

Wednesday: Flowery Branch, Ga.

Falcons

The son also rises.

I’d been thinking about Brian Banks for some time. He’s the wrongly accused, wrongly imprisoned former California high school football star who was jailed for five years for a sex crime he never committed. After a 10-year nightmare of courts, prison and home confinement, Banks was freed 15 months ago, and now the Falcons have him in their training camp. He’s trying to make the team, or the eight-man practice squad, as a special teams player and linebacker.

One day in camp, between the morning walk-through and afternoon practice, a coach walked through the locker room and saw 12 players sitting around Banks, listening to a story of his incarceration. Say this about the Banks signing by the Falcons: Whether he has the athleticism, tenacity and ability to survive cutdown day, the move is smart if only to show the rest of the players—rich and not-so-rich, stars and roster longshots—how lucky they are to have a chance to do this for a living.

“What has been great, sort of as a by-product of Brian being here,” said quarterback Matt Ryan, “is while sometimes you get up in the morning and say, ‘We have to practice today,’ Brian’s attitude is different. He thinks: ‘We get to practice today.”

On Thursday night, in the preseason opener against Cincinnati, Banks played middle linebacker on the last Atlanta defensive series, and twice tackled Bengals running back Daniel Herron. He didn’t get steamrolled, at all. But it’s the kicking teams that will decide whether Banks gets to continue his career or not. Watch him there in the next two weeks. If he stars, maybe he claws onto the practice squad. As he told me, though, if he doesn’t make it, he’s not going to feel cheated. He gets it. Guys don’t miss 10 years of football and walk onto an NFL roster.

I have had a couple of long conversations with Banks, though I can’t say I know him particularly well. I really like what I’ve heard from him—the earnestness, the lack of bitterness (somehow), how he used his time away to get educated, his continuing work with the California Innocence Project. You meet him and feel he’s going to do something good in his life, and maybe many good things. So I brought him a book: Wave, the heart-wrenching memoir of a woman whose life went from normal to ruined in the span of minutes when her extended family—all except her—was wiped out in a tsunami in Sri Lanka in 2004. It’s a story about what happens when something indescribably tragic hits your life.

It was raining hard this morning, and the Falcons were practicing in their indoor facility. When Banks and the rest of the team were heading back to the locker room, they had to walk through the rain. So Banks put the book in his helmet, covering it with his jersey. “Don’t get it wet, don’t get it wet!” he said.

Video: One-on-One with … Brian Banks

 

[Raider Nation]

:(

@JayGlazer

Falcons are releasing @BrianBanksFREE. Hey brother, the dream isn't over, it was ACCOMPLISHED. However, Mr. Blank and his partners were so impressed by Brian they are actually trying to place him in a career opportunity in Atlanta around the team

 

[Mr. Retukes]

Eligible for the Practice Squad, no?

 

[Faust]

Vindicated LB Brian Banks gets job in NFL front office

 

[Slapdash]

Good for Brian