Kelvin Banks sets tone for Texas Longhorn program, just like he still does at Summer Creek

NEW ORLEANS – Humble Summer Creek head coach Kenny Harrison shows every prospective incoming freshman football player the same video. In the one-play clip, future Bulldogs witness a crime. Not a real one. But it should come with a parental advisory sticker. The play is a pulling Kelvin Banks annihilating a poor linebacker at Katy Cinco Ranch in the fourth round of the Class 6A playoffs in 2021. 

The clip would remind viewers of Banks’ famous pull block against Oklahoma State early in the Big 12 championship game. The former five-star recruit is a tone setter. He set the tone for Summer Creek in the 62-41 victory over Cinco Ranch. Just like he did for the blowout win over the Cowboys that rubberstamped Texas’ entry into the College Football Playoff. 

“Kelvin plays the game the right way – physical,” Harrison said. “I’m not surprised at all that he immediately made an impact at Texas as a true freshman and is now one of the best left tackles in the game. I would’ve been surprised if he wasn’t.” 

Banks was one of those rare can’t-miss prospects. His ceiling is somewhere near Jupiter. His floor is higher than the penthouse floor at one of those new swanky, overpriced Austin condos that pop up every other week. Harrison first noticed Banks as an eighth grader. He was the best offensive lineman at Summer Creek by the playoffs his freshman season, but Banks couldn’t play varsity football because he went to a different feeder school in the district as an eighth grader. 

“Other coaches probably thought I was crazy because here he was on freshman when he could’ve clearly helped out our varsity team,” Harrison joked. “Kelvin embarrassed a lot of players that year.” 

Banks wasn’t required to sit out his freshman season at Texas. He started all 13 games Texas played as a true freshman, locking down future draft picks like Tyree Wilson and Will Anderson. He finished the year as a second-team All-Big 12 selection by the AP and the conference coaches. He helped pave the way for Doak Walker Award winner Bijan Robinson and future NFL draft pick Roschon Johnson. Texas won eight games and scouts penciled Banks in as a top 10 NFL draft pick in 2025. 

That’s not to say adjusting to college was a breeze. Just like everyone else, he had a welcome-to-college-football moment. Banks said his came in his first fall camp back in 2022 when he faced off with nose tackle Keondre Coburn in a pod drill. 

“I hit him, but he didn’t move,” Banks laughed. “I was like, ‘oh, okay. I see. I see. I gotta get myself together.” 

Banks immediately impressed his upperclassmen teammates, even if he couldn’t move Coburn on day one. Christian Jones said his first impression of Banks was that the true freshman had, “the quickest set I’ve seen in a long time.” Starting center Jake Majors said in the lead up to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans that, “He’s naturally talented, man. He’s so good. He is obsessed with the technique.” 

Talk to Banks for any extended period and he reveals himself to be a gentle giant. The 6-foot-4, 324-pound Banks sat patiently and humbly at a podium during the media scrum on Saturday morning. He isn’t loud. Or boastful. Or intimidating. It is easy to forget that he’s the same person who detonated a Cowboy a month earlier in AT&T Stadium or the one who so violently hit a fellow high school player that his coach plays it as an illustration of how to play with physicality. 

Harrison says the same thing was true at Summer Creek. A visitor to the school outside of Houston wouldn’t have picked out the five-star talent based on personality. Banks isn’t a look-at-me player or person. In fact, he’d prefer if you looked the other way so he can ear-hole you on a counter play. 

“Whenever you step on that field, you know what time it is,” Banks said with the same calmness I talk about writing a strong lead. “You feel the jitters and the butterflies before the game starts. The goal is to go out there and physically dominate the other guy, as well as not get embarrassed on national television.”