After suffering a broken foot on Sept. 13 against LSU and ultimately requiring surgery, Florida football redshirt senior defensive lineman Caleb Banks could have sat out the rest of the 2025 season to protect himself for the 2026 NFL Draft.
Instead, the 6-foot-6, 330-pound Banks returned to the Florida Gators on Nov. 22 to play out the remainder of the season.
Banks started at defensive tackle and finished with three tackles in 37 snaps during UF’s 31-11 loss to Tennessee at The Swamp.
“It felt great,” Banks said. “It wasn’t really too hard. Football is football. You gotta play in order to play it, though.”
After a breakout junior year in 2024 that included seven tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks, Banks was named a preseason All-SEC defensive tackle by numerous outlets. But he suffered a foot injury late in fall camp and after sitting out UF’s first two games against LIU and USF, broke his foot in the LSU game.
“I stayed strong, kept fighting through, with recovery and stuff like that,” Banks said. “And God, just told me, ‘No, you’re gonna go out there and play again. So go out there and play.’ “
Despite the injury, Banks remains a projected to be picked within the top three rounds of next April’s NFL Draft. A strong finish to the season on Nov. 29 against rival FSU (4:30 p.m., ESPN2) could help his pro stock.
“I’m still not currently thinking about that” Banks said. “I’m grounded where I’m at right now. So, just being out there with my brothers, I think that’s the most important thing. If I’m able to play, then I’m gonna go play. I’m not gonna just sit down and not go out there and fight with them, regardless of the situation of what’s going on.”
Mostly, Banks wants to close out his college career win a win over rival FSU. The Gators (3-8) can keep the Seminoles (5-6) from making a bowl by beating their in-state rivals.
“We don’t need them planting no flags on our field,” Banks said. “So, we gonna go out there and handle business for sure.”
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football’s Caleb Banks on why he chose to finish season after injury
Reporting by Kevin Brockway, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
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