Banks had been a star sprinter in high school in North Carolina, and played two seasons for Washington in the NFL.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
The 5-foot-7, 150-pound wide receiver Brandon Banks may be one of the CFL’s smallest players, but he’s had a massive season and pulled in the league’s biggest award Thursday night.
Three days before his Hamilton Tiger-Cats battle the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for the 107th Grey Cup in Calgary, the 31-year-old slotback walked the red carpet at the CFL’s Awards night and was named the season’s Most Outstanding Player.
“In a humble way, it feels good,” said Banks, posing in a a sharp black suit, and black and silver high top sneakers as he hoisted his trophy in a press conference after the ceremony with friends and family looking on from behind the photographers.
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The hot-scoring receiver known as ‘Speedy’ has experienced some well-publicized agony during his seven-year CFL career. Take his game-winning touchdown in the 2014 Grey Cup, which was overturned because of a penalty flag, or the clavicle injury last October that left him with a collarbone pieced together by a metal plate and eight screws.
When he learned of his nomination for the MOP award, one of the first people Banks texted was former Ticats head coach June Jones. In the previous season and a half, Jones was the first CFL coach to use him extensively as a receiver, rather than reserving him for punt and kick returns.
“I knew I had it in me, just look at my stats in college at Kansas State. I just needed somebody to believe in me,” said Banks at media day earlier Thursday.
Historically in his offence, Jones had been successful with undersized players with top-end speed, so he was eager to use Banks as a starting receiver right away. Banks had been a star sprinter in high school in North Carolina, and played two seasons for the NFL’s Washington Redskins. Jones was instantly struck by Banks’ explosiveness.
“In my mind, he’s absolutely uncoverable man-to-man,” said Jones in a phone interview – who left the Ticats early this season to coach the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks.
Jones said he shows video of one of Banks’ 2018 catches to his XFL players—one where he went up against five big defenders, won the ball, then ran it in for a touchdown.
“He’s tremendously competitive and has real courage,” said Jones.
Tommy Condell didn’t get to use Banks the return specialist much in his first go-around as Tiger-Cats offensive coordinator from 2013-15. But in his second stint as Hamilton’s OC – which began this season – Condell is overjoyed to have Banks in his deep receiving corps.
“It was like there was a beautiful model I couldn’t date until her Dad said it was okay,” said Condell this week with a laugh. “Now it’s like I got to marry the super model.”
After a club-record 15-3 regular season, the Ticats are chasing their first Grey Cup since 1999. Naturally, media has probed Banks about that heartbreaking overturned touchdown from his last trip to the big game.
The Calgary Stampeders lead 20-16 in that game with 56 seconds left, when they had to punt. The Grey Cup was already on the sidelines and both teams’ families were standing in the tunnel, waiting to see which group would run out to hug the players amidst falling confetti.
Banks, the dangerous return man, caught the punt, evaded countless Calgary defenders as the noise in the stadium swelled and he sped into the endzone. He collapsed breathlessly onto his back, with pure joy and began to celebrate his apparent Grey Cup winning touchdown.
But no one on Hamilton’s sideline was celebrating. His teammate Taylor Reed had pushed a defender from Banks’ path, and was flagged for an illegal block, nullifying the touchdown. A few minutes later, the Stampeders spilled onto the field in victory, and the Ticats left devastated. Gutted, Banks exited covering his face and wiping away tears.
“I went to my hotel room and sat for four hours by myself,” Banks recalled. “Coach Kent Austin came to my room, I looked through the peep hole and saw it was him, I told him I was okay, and he left me alone. I saw everybody else on the plane the next morning.”
Banks said he’s over it but remembers it like it was yesterday. He never had hard feelings for Reed, and the two quickly cleared the air.
“It made me a stronger person and a better professional athlete,” said Banks.
Ticats Special Teams Coordinator Jeff Reinebold – in the 2014 Grey Cup and today too – has seen Banks grow from it.
“We’re going on 107 Grey Cups and that was one of the most memorable, heart-wrenching emotional moments in that history,” said Reinebold. “He has redefined his legacy since that game and overcome that moment. Years from now when people talk about the greatest players to play in the CFL, I think Brandon Banks will be a player they talk about.”
Banks overcame a devastating injury in Week 19 of his 2018 season, at the time leading the CFL in receiving touchdowns with 11. In a road game against the Ottawa RedBlacks, Banks stretched out to haul in a pass as a tackling defensive back landed on top of him. Under all that weight, Banks’ shoulders buckled inward and his clavicle fractured in two places.
“The actual moment I did it, I thought I was paralyzed, I couldn’t move at first and my neck went numb all in here,” said Banks grabbing at his left shoulder while telling the story. “I tried to push myself up off the ground and I just flopped back down because everything was broke up.”
After surgery, he needed intensive rehab in the off-season, and up until he absorbed his first hit in the preseason, he wasn’t sure he could ever be the player he had once been. His father stayed in his ear with positive thoughts during the dog days of injury rehabilitation coming into the 2019 season. Jones kept in regular contact too.
Banks still can’t lie on his left side, and he sometimes feels a pang of discomfort while pulling on shoulder pads. He hopes to finally have the plate and eight screws removed after the Grey Cup.
Yet he still had a career season. In his 17 games in 2019 he was the CFL’s top receiver, catching 116 passes for 1650 yards and 14 touchdowns. That included his four catches for 100 yards and a sensational layout touchdown in Sunday’s East Final victory over the Edmonton Eskimos which he himself considers one of his best catches ever. Now to finish off with a championship.
“At the end of the day, I want to be proven a winner,” said Banks. “And Sunday’s is what that’s all about.”
In other CFL awards announced on Thursday night, Hamilton led the way with three other winners aside from Banks. The other Ticat winners were Chris Van Zeyl for best offensive lineman, return specialist Frankie Williams as top special-teams player and Orlondo Steinauer as coach of the year. Winnipeg’s Willie Jefferson won as best defensive player, Montreal Alouettes linebacker Henoc Muamba was top Canadian and Calgary’s Nate Holley was chosen the top rookie.
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