Banks left Alabama for a ‘sleeping giant’
New assistant welcomes challenge, return to his adopted home state
AUSTIN — Once the stupor of Alabama’s 16th national title faded, Jeff Banks realized he was ready for a new challenge. And for a return to the state that became his adopted home for 14 years.
So three days after Alabama knocked off Ohio State in the 2021 College Football Playoff championship game, Banks accepted a new job at Texas. Former Alabama offensive coordinator and new Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian tapped his former Crimson Tide colleague as the program’s new assistant head coach, special teams coordinator and tight ends coach.
Together, the Nick Saban acolytes will quest to win a title without their former boss running the show. That voyage to the top likely will take years, maybe more than Sarkisian and Banks have, considering the title drought on the Forty Acres, but it simply was too tempting a chance to pass on.
“It was my third season in there (Alabama), and we wanted to attain our goals to win the national championship,” Banks said Thursday. “I think being able to do that really helped me just feel like we kind of got a goal accomplished that we were all striving for.
“And, for me, it’s always been about who I work for and making sure that I believe in who I work for. And having the ability to look for that person to let me bring the best I can to the table, both schemes and individual fundamental teaching. So we just really shared the same ideals.”
Banks spent nearly a decade at UTEP (2004-12) serving as special teams coordinator and running backs coach. After a brief stio at Virginia — Banks’ employment lasted about two weeks before a more enticing offered arrived — he spent the next five years overseeing Texas A&M’s special teams and tight ends.
While Banks departed for Alabama in 2018, his children remained in College Station. That, too, played a key role in his decision to leave behind Saban’s dynasty for a restoration project on the Forty Acres.
“My kids still live in College Station with their mom,” Banks said. “And that was a huge part of it also, just the ability to come in and be an everyday part of their lives as they’re going into high school. That was the other major reason.”
Banks kept his recruiting claws embedded in the Lone Star State even after leaving Texas A&M for Bama. While there, he helped the Tide land blue-chip recruits like Fort Worth All Saints Episcopal five-star lineman and Texas legacy Tommy Brockermeyer, Garland Lakeview Centennial five-star tailback Camar Wheaton and Katy Thompkins four-star quarterback Jalen Milroe.
Sarkisian believes Banks can do the same at Texas, keeping the home-state talent, well, home rather than enticing them to join Saban’s Alabama empire.
Along with those in-state ties, it helps that Banks’ track record as a special teams coordinator and tight ends coach includes numerous All-Americans and top-ranked units. And Banks himself was a twotime All-Pac-10 punter at Washington State.
“Jeff ’s roots in recruiting are really here in the great state of Texas,” Sarkisian said. “But he’s also, in my opinion, the premier special teams coordinator in the country. So we get a fantastic coach there; we get a fantastic recruiter with ties to the state.”
Banks has some immense talent to work with at Texas.
Senior kicker Cameron Dicker is a two-time All-Big 12 selection and one-time honorable mention. Aussie punter Ryan Bujcevski was in the midst of a breakout campaign last year before he suffered a season-ending torn ACL. Senior returner D’Shawn Jamison is lightning in a bottle, a gamebreaker who needs only a sliver of space to blast off.
At tight end, Banks can go five-deep with super senior Cade Brewer, junior Jared Wiley and the three freshmen, Juan Davis, Gunnar Helm and Ja’Tavion Sanders. With Sarkisian often utilizing multiple tight end sets in his offensive scheme, Banks’ unit will have a real chance to shine in 2021.
“You can argue the most important position after quarterback in our system is the tight end, Sarkisian said, “because we ask him to do a lot. We ask him to be a run-game blocker. We ask for him to have a heavy influence in our pass protection. Then we ask them to have a big influence in our passing game as a receiver.”
Will No. 21 Texas fare better than No. 1 Alabama this season or next? Almost certainly not.
But Banks has bought into Sarkisian’s vision of a football awakening in Austin. And one day, he believes, they’ll deliver a national championship trophy to Texas.
“So I just looked at it as, what a sleeping giant, what a time to be part of it,” Banks said. “Certainly, we felt like with Sark taking that job and him offering me a job, I felt like it was the perfect combination of the things that I was looking for.”