For those of you that haven't seen yet, Brian Banks worked out for the Seahawks on Thursday, and by all accounts it went very well. He measured in at 6'2, 239, and Pete Carroll mentioned in an interview the other day that he likely projects as an outside linebacker, though I'd add that taking into account he hasn't played in ten years, he'd likely project as a core special teamer if he catches on with the team. Naturally, the odds of that happening are fairly low - Banks hasn't played organized ball in a decade and the instincts and skills learned at the collegiate level were stripped from him because of his false imprisonment.
Still, he's been training hard - has apparently shed about 20-30 pounds and is running in the 4.6s or 4.7s, and has a few more visits lined up, starting in San Diego. Carroll was impressed with his workout though, noting that "he's very coordinated. He has good, natural quickness. He has good flexibility. He jumped well. He caught the ball real well. I don't know how many balls he's been catching, but his hand-eye coordination is definitely there. You can see that he's not in the kind of condition that our guys need to be in, so this week in particular is not going to be a great indication, but it will be a start."
Carroll continued, "He looks like a guy who has not been schooled and worked out in the fashion that our guys are at this level. It's going to take him some time and I think our expectations need to be fitted to that. He's not had the upscale program and individual workouts and the kinds of things that guys do to get here. So to look as good as he did under those circumstances was worth noting."
As Doug Farrar of Shutdown Corner reports, Banks' trip to San Diego will answer [how he'd fare against NFL-caliber players] a bit, and he'll know more when he starts training with Travelle Gaines in Los Angeles later in June. [In his training, as Gaines told Farrar], Banks will be going up against running backs like Chris Johnson and LeSean McCoy down there, "and we'll find out pretty quickly" how much work needs to be done."
All in all - an inspiring and very cool story, and Banks' humility and attitude are remarkable. Whatever happens from here on out, whether he accepts the offer to try out with Seattle at next week's mini-camp or heads to more scheduled tryouts with other teams, his will be an interesting story to watch. The video above, brought to us by the people at Win Forever, shows portions of the workout, then the actual moment that Banks is told by Carroll and Seahawks' GM John Schneider that they'd like him to come back for the mini-camp, and it's a pretty cool thing to witness.