Louisville DL transfer Caleb Banks commits to Florida
After taking just one official visit, Louisville defensive lineman Caleb Banks has found his next home on the collegiate level.
Banks, a 6-foot-7, 300-pound redshirt freshman, just committed to the the University of Florida following his official visit in Gainesville. He met with Gators defensive line coach Sean Spencer earlier in the week before opting to officially visit this weekend, and now, he’s two feet in with the orange and blue.
“Florida was already my dream school. The official visit was just the sprinkles on top of the cupcake. Florida is No. 1. It’s just a family all around. I loved it,” Banks said after his official visit.
“Coach Spencer reminds of a coach in high school, like a father figure. That’s good; that’s something great right there.”
A native of Southfield, Michigan, Banks is Florida’s first commitment out of the transfer portal this cycle. He chose the Gators over additional offers from USC, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Auburn, Virginia Tech and Indiana among others. Florida is recruiting the ACC transfer to line up at nose tackle.
Banks played just nine snaps as a true freshman and recorded two tackles, one sack and a forced fumble this past fall; however, there is no doubt he is far from a finished product. The Gators believe he has a whole lot of untapped potential in the trenches.
Coming out of high school, Banks was a three-star prospect and the No. 97-ranked EDGE in the 2021 On3 Consensus. Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky, Nebraska, Maryland, Minnesota and West Virginia are some of the schools that offered him during his prep days.
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What Gators fans need to know about the transfer portal
The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.
The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.
Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.
The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.
A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.
Stay tuned to Gators Online.
