EJ Banks Has Impressive Opener
Notre Dame commit EJ Banks started off his season on the right foot this weekend with and impressive showing – even if he only played the first half. Banks cramped up and missed most of the second half, but he did enough damage by halftime to put his team in position to win.
Montour earned a 35-27 victory against visiting Pine-Richland on the shoulders of Banks, a Notre Dame recruit who rushed for four touchdowns, threw another and accumulated 166 yards passing to complement his 117 yards rushing.
“E.J. is a special player,” Montour coach Lou Cerro said. “The kid comes to play each and every week. … Everyone saw what he can do when he has the ball in his hands.”
Banks has not been talked about much on the boards and has been a sort of under the radar recruit this far, but it seems pretty clear that the kid can play and is extremely athletic. After watching a lot of college football this weekend, it is pretty clear that one area where we might still be lacking, despite the recruiting success of Charlie Weis, is in athleticism. Notre Dame just needs more athletes out there and it looks like Banks fits that role.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
@Joe,
I agree that there is a lot of speed and athleticism in the last two classes, but overall, we are still lacking in that department. We need to continue to recruit kids like Banks who have good speed/athleticism in order to get our roster to the point where it needs to be for us to be a consistent top 10 player.
This guy looked like a man among boys on film last year. I guess now he’ scary. For a 3-Star, he surprised me on film. This guys gonna be awesome with Wood next year.
Hope he can transition to a position quickly. Don’t agree on the recruiting comment. CW appears to have done a good job recruiting athletes. Fleming and Filer are being raved about for their athleticism. The knock on Tate is that he is a great athlete but doesn’t have the position skills. Harrison Smith is so much a hybrid the staff is moving him down into the box and playing him in coverage as well. We do need to continue a steady stream of E. J. Banks’s but position skill is important as well.