Exonerated Brian Banks to try out for Seahawks

After being exonerated on rape charges last week, Brian Banks will finally get his chance to try out for a NFL team.

Once a highly touted, 6-4, 225-pound prep linebacking prospect from California who was headed to USC, Banks will try out for the Seattle Seahawks on June 7, reports EPSN.

“I’ll make ’em happy,” Banks tells ESPN’s Rick Reilly. “After all I’ve been through these last 10 years, I can still do some things that will impress you.”

Brain Banks had spent five years in prison after pleading no contest to forcible rape. His conviction was thrown out and exonerated after the alleged victim contacted him via Facebook, admitting she lied and wanted to help him clear his name. Banks’ conviction had brought the alleged victim a $1.5 million judgment she didn’t want to risk.

As a registered sex offender, Banks had some trouble finding a job.

“I’ve been unemployed since I’ve been out,” Banks said last week. “I’ve had one real job, working in a warehouse. I’ve had to live with my mom, then with my girlfriend and for the past seven or eight months with my brother, to survive.”

The Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins and Washington Redskins might also take a look at Banks, who has also been offered a job in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ front office.

“I’ve been working out since October,” he said last week. “I’m in the best shape of my life. I put up a personal record of 500 pounds on the squat, 600 on the dead lift and am running the 40-yard dash in the 4.6 to 4.7 range. I feel confident that any team that gave me an opportunity would see I can play football. But this (his reversal) had to come first. There is no football without freedom.”