The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
No. 4/4/3 Football’s Banks wins 2024 Outland Trophy
12.12.2024 | Football
The junior left tackle makes it back-to-back Outland Trophy winners for the Longhorns.
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Football left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. has been named the recipient of the 79th Outland Trophy, the Greater Omaha Sports Committee announced Thursday evening. The Outland Trophy has been awarded annually since 1946 to the nation's best college interior lineman on offense or defense. It marks the second-straight year, and fifth time overall, the Longhorns have claimed the prestigious award with defensive tackle T'Vondre Sweat earning the honor last season. Texas is the first school to claim back-to-back Outland Trophies since Nebraska won three in a row in 1981-83.
Banks joins defensive tackle Scott Appleton (1963), guard Tommy Nobis (1965), defensive tackle Brad Shearer (1977) and Sweat (2023) as Longhorn Outland Trophy winners. All five of Texas' Outland Trophy recipients are native Texans. Banks was tabbed this year's Lombardi Award winner on Wednesday night in Houston and is the first Longhorn to win both the Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award.
The 6-foot-4 offensive lineman from Humble, Texas, also garnered the SEC's prestigious Jacobs Blocking Trophy and was honored as a first-team All-SEC member earlier this week.
A three-year starter who has started 39-straight games at left tackle for the Longhorns, Banks is a key member of the Texas offensive line that was recently tabbed a finalist for the Joe Moore Award which goes to the nation's most outstanding offensive line unit. Banks received multiple weekly honors this season, including the Outland Trophy's National Player of the Week on Oct. 15, and SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week twice (Sept. 30 and Oct. 14). Prior to the season, Banks was named preseason first-team All-America by The Associated Press, CBS Sports, ESPN, Sporting News and The Athletic in addition to being honored on the preseason first-team All-SEC by the media and league's coaches.
With Banks' veteran leadership in the trenches, UT's offense ranks No. 13 in the FBS in passing offense (281 ypg), 15th in team passing efficiency (154.92), 16th in completion percentage (66.3 percent), 18th in total offense (445.4 ypg) and 25th in scoring offense (33.6 ppg). The Texas offense has rushed for over 100 yards in 11 of 13 games and three different Longhorn running backs have each registered at least one 100-yard effort.
Through 13 games, Texas' offense is averaging 6.2 yards per play. UT is averaging 164.4 yards on the ground per game and 4.5 yards per carry with 21 rushing scores. The Longhorns have scored on 34 passing touchdowns.
By rushing for 240 yards against Texas A&M on Nov. 30, it was the fourth time this season (and the third time in the last five games) the Longhorns have surpassed 200-or-more rushing yards after also doing so against ULM, Florida and Arkansas. Banks has paved the way for several standout drives recently, including the second drive of the game against Texas A&M, which went for 10 plays and 93 yards and resulted in a touchdown that provided a 7-0 lead, which was a lead the team would not surrender in the game and helped the Horns clinch an SEC Championship game berth as a first-year league member.
Against Kentucky, the Banks and the offensive line cleared the path for an epic 15-play, 86-yard touchdown drive that lasted 8:22 and consisted entirely of rushes. The drive started at 11:32 and ended at 3:10 to extend the lead to 31-14. At Arkansas, Texas was able to run out the last 6:55 of the game, earning four first downs in the process, to prevent the Razorbacks from having another possession and secure the win.
Behind Banks' protection, junior QB Quinn Ewers Ewers has completed 233-of-352 passes (66.2 percent) for 2,665 yards and 25 touchdowns while averaging 242.27 yards per contest in 11 starts. A finalist for the Manning Award, Ewers sits 17th in the FBS in passing touchdowns (17), 23rd in completion percentage (66.2 percent), completions per game (21.18) and points responsible for per game (14.4). Ewers boasts a 24-game passing touchdown streak – the longest active streak by an FBS quarterback and the second-longest streak in program history behind Colt McCoy's program-record 29 games. The Southlake, Texas, product ranks third and fourth in the program's record book in passing touchdowns (61) and passing yards (8,321).
Banks was selected by the All-America Committee of the Football Writers Association of America from three finalists that also included defensive tackle Mason Graham of Michigan and Walter Nolen of Ole Miss. Banks is the second offensive lineman of the past three seasons to win the Outland Trophy (Michigan center Olusegun Oluwatimi in 2022) and the fourth from the offensive side of the last seven seasons. The SEC has had an Outland Trophy winner in three of the last five seasons.
The official presentation to Banks will be made at the Outland Trophy Awards Dinner sponsored by Werner Enterprises and produced by the Greater Omaha Sports Committee in Omaha, Neb., on Jan. 22, 2025.
Texas will be making its second College Football Playoff appearance in as many years after earning a No. 3 ranking in the CFP poll and the No. 5 overall seed. The Horns will host No. 13/13/16 Clemson at 3 p.m. CT Saturday, Dec. 21, inside Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in the CFP first round. The game will broadcast on TNT with Dave Pasch (play-by-play), Dusty Dvoracek (color analyst), Taylor McGregor (reporter) and Laura Rutledge (reporter) on the call. The first-round winner will advance to the CFP Quarterfinal at the 57th Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and face the Big 12 Champion and No. 4 seed Arizona State at Noon C.T. on Jan. 1, 2025, in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The game will air on an ABC/ESPN platform.
