Caleb Banks injury update: Billy Gonzales reveals status for Florida vs. Tennessee

The Florida Gators are hoping to get a boost to their defense in the final weeks of the season with the potential for defensive lineman Caleb Banks to return from injury. This comes after he’s been down for most of the season with a foot injury.

At a press conference on Monday, interim head coach Billy Gonzales shared the latest on Caleb Banks. He’s been cleared to return, and there is hope for him to return for the Tennessee game, though nothing is guaranteed just yet.

“He’s been cleared,” Billy Gonzales said. “So, obviously, the return to play aspect of it is going to be based on his body and how he comes through and performs this week at practice, but everybody is a little different. It takes some players a little further and a longer time to come back after the return to play, but I know, as far as his attitude and willingness and eagerness to come back, he wants to come back immediately. He wanted to play this past week. So, it’ll be nice to get him back. Another big body up front to come help us in that run game as well.”

Caleb Banks hasn’t seen any action this season since the Week 3 game against LSU. That’s when he suffered the foot injury, which required surgery. That foot injury has become a nagging issue for the Gators, dating back to last season, and the LSU game is the only one he’s appeared in at all this year.

Whether or not Banks can return to action against Tennessee is still in question. However, there is optimism after his status got upgraded to doubtful a week ago for the Ole Miss game, even if he still didn’t play. Now, it’s a matter of how he continues to progress during the week.

“He started practicing last week. He went throughout — I want to say, I was talking to Coach about this — I think he had somewhere around 25 reps or so last Wednesday in that return to play area. So, again, the plan is to get him those reps, get him in Saturday. He wanted to warm up. We wanted to get some reps of him warming up,” Gonzales said. “And, obviously, we’ll monitor how he’s doing throughout practice to make sure we’re putting him in a proper position. So, he’s healthy.”

Caleb Banks was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2021. That was 990th-ranked nationally and the 98th-ranked edge rusher in his recruiting cycle. He’s been at Florida since 2023, when he came as a transfer from Louisville. He played in 24 games over his first two seasons with the program, grabbing 8.5 tackles for a loss and 5.5 sacks during that time.

Florida has two rivalry games remaining this season. This week, Tennessee is going to be making the trip to The Swamp. After that, the Gators will play host to Florida State to wrap up the season.