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AUSTIN, Texas – Texas football left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. has been selected as the recipient of the 79th Outland Trophy, the Greater Omaha Sports Commission announced Thursday evening. The Outland Trophy has been awarded annually since 1946 to the nation’s best interior collegiate lineman on offense or defense. This is the second year in a row that the Longhorns have earned this honor, and their fifth overall, with defensive tackle TyVondre Sweat receiving the honor last season. Texas becomes the first school to win back-to-back Outland Trophies since Nebraska won three in a row from 1981-83.
Banks joins defensive tackle Scott Appleton (1963), guard Tommy Nobis (1965), defensive tackle Brad Shearer (1977) and Sweat (2023) in winning the Longhorn Outland Trophy. became the winner. All five Texas Outland Trophy winners are native Texans. Banks was named this year’s Lombardi Trophy recipient Wednesday night in Houston, becoming the first Longhorn to win both the Outland Trophy and the Lombardi Trophy.
The 6-foot-4 offensive lineman from Humble, Texas, also won the SEC’s prestigious Jacobs Blocking Trophy and was recognized as a first-team All-SEC member earlier this week.
Banks, a third-year starter who has started 39 consecutive games at left tackle for the Longhorns, is a key member of Texas’ offensive line, which recently won the Joe Moore award for best offensive line unit in the nation. Selected as a finalist for the award. . Banks received multiple weekly awards this season, including the Outland Trophy Player of the Week award on October 15th and the SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week award twice (September 30th and October 14th). Award-winning. Before the season, Banks received Preseason First Team All-SEC honors from the media and league coaches and was named a Preseason First Team All-America by The Associated Press, CBS Sports, ESPN, Sporting News, and The Athletic. . .
With Banks’ veteran leadership, UT’s offense ranks 13th in the FBS in passing offense (281 ypg), 15th in team pass efficiency (154.92), 16th in completion percentage (66.3 percent) and 18th in total offense (445.4). It becomes. ypg), 25th in scoring offense (33.6 ppg). The Texas offense has rushed for over 100 yards in 11 of 13 games, with three different Longhorn running backs each recording at least one 100-yard effort.
Through 13 games, the Texas offense is averaging 6.2 yards per play. UT is averaging 164.4 yards on the ground per game, 4.5 yards per carry, and 21 rushing scores. The Longhorns scored on 34 passing touchdowns.
His 240 yards rushing against Texas A&M on Nov. 30 marks the fourth time this season (in the past five games) that the Longhorns have eclipsed 200 or more rushing yards, having also done so against Florida State ULM. 3rd time). And Arkansas. Banks has paved the way for some outstanding drives recently. That included the second drive of the game against Texas A&M, where he gained 93 yards in 10 plays and scored a touchdown for a 7-0 lead, giving his team the lead. Ta. He didn’t surrender in the game and helped the Horns qualify for the SEC Championship as a first-year member of the league.
Against Kentucky, Banks and the offensive line paved the way for an epic 15-play, 86-yard touchdown drive that lasted 8 minutes, 22 seconds and consisted entirely of rushing players. The drive started at 11:32 and ended at 3:10, giving them a 31-14 lead. At Arkansas, Texas was able to run the final 6 minutes and 55 seconds of the game, gaining four first downs in the process and preventing the Razorbacks from gaining new possession, securing the victory.
With Banks’ protection, junior quarterback Quinn Ewers completed 233 of 352 passes (66.2 percent) for 2,665 yards and 25 touchdowns, averaging 242.27 yards per game in 11 starts. Ewers, a finalist for the Manning Award, ranks 17th in the FBS in passing touchdowns (17), completion percentage (66.2 percent), completions per game (21.18) and points per game (14.4). It is ranked 23rd. Ewers has a passing touchdown record in 24 consecutive games. This is the longest active streak by an FBS quarterback and the second longest streak in program history behind Colt McCoy’s program record of 29 games. The Southlake, Texas product ranks third and fourth in the program’s record books in passing touchdowns (61) and passing yards (8,321).
Banks was selected by the Football Writers Association of America’s National Committee out of three finalists, including defensive tackles Mason Graham (Michigan State) and Walter Nolen (Michigan State). Banks becomes the second offensive lineman in the last three seasons to win at Outland. trophy (Michigan State center Olusegun Oluwatimi in 2022), and his fourth from the offensive side in the past seven seasons. The SEC has produced Outland Trophy winners in three of the past five seasons.
The formal presentation to Banks will take place at the Outland Trophy Awards Dinner sponsored by Warner Enterprises and hosted by the Greater Omaha Sports Commission on January 22, 2025 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Texas earned the No. 3 spot in the CFP voting and the No. 5 overall seed, making it to the College Football Playoff for the second time in as many years. The Horns will face No. 13/13/16 Clemson in the first round of the CFP on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 3 p.m. CT inside Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. The fight will be broadcast via call on TNT by Dave Pash (commentary), Dusty Dvoracek (color analyst), Taylor McGregor (reporter) and Laura Rutledge (reporter). The first-round winner will advance to the CFP quarterfinals of the 57th Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl to face Big 12 champion and No. 4 seed Arizona State at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on January 1, 2025 at noon in Connecticut. do. Atlanta. The game will be broadcast on the ABC/ESPN platform.
