27-year-old Brian Banks gets to live out his dream of being in the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons signed a contract with Banks on Wednesday.
Banks was a star football player at Long Beach’s Polytechnic High School, but his career ended abruptly when a classmate accused him of rape in 2002. He made a plea deal and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, and spent another 5 years on parole, which derailed his dreams of playing professional football.
Banks caught a break in his case when his accuser messaged him on Facebook, admitting she lied about the rape allegations. A law program called the California Innocence Project helped exonerate him in May 2012. Banks garnered attention nationwide, and also caught the eye of several NFL teams, including the Seattle Seahawks, the San Diego Chargers, and the Kansas City Chiefs last year. He got the chance to play 2 games with the United Football League’s Las Vegas Locomotives. As reported by News One:
Atlanta Falcon’s General Manager Thomas Dimitroff made the following statement: “We are pleased to have Brian join our team. We had a chance to work him out last year and have been monitoring his progress since then. He has worked extremely hard for this chance over the last year and he has shown us that he is prepared for this opportunity. We are happy that Brian will have a chance to live out his dream of playing in the NFL and we look forward to seeing him on the field.”
