Many happy returns, Ticats hope for Banks
They’ve got alternatives, and they’ve made that quite clear with their roster depth, but the Hamilton Tiger-Cats still consider Brandon “Speedy” Banks’ return game a fulcrum to overall 2017 team success.
So, despite Banks’ wishes to the contrary, head coach Kent Austin places a far greater premium on maintaining the entertaining speedster’s strength for running back punts, kickoffs and missed field goals than getting him extra reps as a field-stretching pass receiver.
“Some of (his use as a receiver) will depend upon not sacrificing the return game,” Austin confirmed this week. “We have some new things for him, but that will be kind of a week-to-week thing. We don’t need a degradation of his body. We want to make sure that our return game is nice and sound and effective and explosive.
“But, we’ll always have (passing) packages for him. We’ve hurt his ability at times to do both.”
In general, that fits the club’s new philosophy on strength, conditioning and practice. They closely monitor every bit of energy expenditure for every player and reduce workload when it begins to red-line.
Specific to Banks, he’s a unique asset who turns 30 at the end of the season.
And despite his surprising durability and the extra strength he’s gained this off-season, he had stretches last year — many in the season’s latter months — when he was not an effective returner.
In seven of his last 11 regularseason games, for instance, he did not have a punt return longer than 15 yards. In four of those, he didn’t have one reach even 10 yards, the standard he himself sets as the bare minimum for a punt return. Not all of that was on him: the entire return unit has to take some blame. He was ranked fifth in CFL kickoff-return average yardage and 12th in punt returns.
But, in an off year pockmarked by a drug test failure that let his teammates down, he still had three return touchdowns (one punt, two missed field goals). He also had four pass receptions for touchdowns, but the return majors are more significant because of their infrequency across the entire sport. So protect the rarer species.
“I understand (Austin’s) philosophy, but of course I feel like I can make plays to help the team on offence,” Banks says. “But whatever the coach asks me to do, that’s what I’m going to do.”
The Ticats kept two returner/receivers on the practice roster in Jalen Saunders and Damarr Aultman, who can be immediately activated should Banks falter or tire.
“I was probably more beat up than tired last year, although I made it out pretty healthy,” said Banks, who agreed he wasn’t as impactful as the season wore on.
“I understand where coach is coming from. But I also explained to him that this off-season I lifted more weights and I feel like I’m stronger and I can last longer.”
He’s also recognized that one of his return problems was fielding the ball while still pedalling backwards. It’s a residue from playing so many years with American fair catch and touchback rules.
“I actually sat down with a coach in the off-season and he told me I need to start catching the ball going forward instead of going backwards,” Banks says. “I felt more comfortable catching it backwards, but in the CFL game you have a five-yard halo and guys are pretty much running away from you if you’re running up, because of no-yards. I’m going to be running downfield instead of eastwest.”
As reported on 3DownNation, Banks took a $50,000 pay cut (to about $115,000 in guaranteed salary and bonuses) to return to the Ticats. The team was probably prepared to move on without him if he hadn’t.
“It was mutual,” he says of the deal. “I knew that we needed (cap) help to get other guys here. I know what we need to get a Grey Cup. We need guys like Fantuz to come back later in the year. Whatever it took to keep the main core guys here.
“It’s not about money to me, it’s about the Grey Cup.”
It is also about re-establishing himself as the undisputed most-dangerous return guy in the game.