‘It’s a really big advantage’ — Florida DT Caleb Banks talks about his biggest edge after Day 1 of Senior Bowl practice
The biggest advantage that Caleb Banks has on the interior is something nobody else in the NFL Draft class has.
The Senior Bowl practices are underway in Mobile, Alabama, giving us a chance to see NFL Draft prospects up close. Practices are more important than games because they are designed to showcase an individual player’s talents on a level playing field.
The Florida Gators have multiple players down in Mobile, and all four of them are down in the trenches. The Gators’ offensive and defensive lines were arguably the two best position groups on the team, and their best player had an impressive first day.
Caleb Banks highlights his biggest strength
The best player that the Gators have to offer is defensive tackle Caleb Banks, and he’s also arguably the best player in Mobile for the Senior Bowl. On Tuesday, Banks was solid throughout and flashed elite ability to win on the interior.
One of Banks’ best traits is size. He measured in at 6-5 and 330 pounds with massive 35-inch arms. Having that kind of length on the inside can be a huge benefit, but also a major deterrent due to the nature of playing on the inside. I asked him about it after practice.
“I mean, it’s just, it’s honestly just technique, being able to shoot, saying peek, and it helps me a lot when I get to peek,” Banks told me after Day 1 of Senior Bowl practice. “Sometimes alignment trying to sit there, but they get stood straight up. So it’s very, really big advantage.”
When you play on the inside, contact gets made much quicker than it does at offensive tackle. That can mitigate a massive arm length advantage. Banks was stood up a couple of times for that during practice, but he did showcase the ability to peek, which is an important element of playing defensive line. It pairs well with the stack-and-shed ability that he displayed on Tuesday.
Banks is currently 24th on the A to Z Sports big board and is a likely first-round pick.
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