You Can Take that to the Bank: E.J. Banks Verbals to the Irish

On the first official day of the 2008 Notre Dame Football Season, Coach Weis and the Fighting Irish picked up another recruit to their 2009 class in Defensive Back E.J. Banks. E.J. is the 14th recruit to verbally commit to the Irish this year.

Banks is the cousin of former Ohio State great and current NFL wide receiver Joey Galloway. He chose the Irish over Ohio State, West Virginia, Rutgers, North Carolina, Cincinnati, and Virginia Tech.

Here is the little blurb from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Montour defensive back/quarterback E.J. Banks made a verbal commitment to Notre Dame.

Recruited by major college programs from across the country, Banks, who is 6-feet, 180-pounds, pared his list down to just Notre Dame and Ohio State in recent days.

He selected Notre Dame, where he said he was recruited as a cornerback.

Banks has helped fuel a resurgence with the once-powerful Montour program as, after falling on hard times for more than two decades, he was one of the catalysts in pushing the Spartans into the WPIAL Class AAA championship game last season.

Here's the 411 on Banks via ESPN:

Banks is a dual-threat quarterback with outstanding speed, acceleration and quickness as a runner and will end up likely at wide receiver, but many coaches are going to want to see how he'd turn out at corner first. Shows serious initial quickness and explosiveness in the pocket and reaches top speed rapidly. Possesses just adequate size on a lean frame, but has cat-like quickness and the ability to create real mismatches in space. Is tough to handle the minute he breaks contain or sees a crease in-line. Is smooth with fluid hips and great feet. Shows a lot of wiggle and lateral quickness with great vision to avoid and make multiple defenders miss in the open field. He is an adequate passer, but this is not why he lines up at quarterback. He's a read-option, QB draw guy that creates and improvises when he has to and you can see he is moving at a different speed than his opponents. He is tough runner given his lack of bulk and he is very slippery-- hard to get a clean shot at in-line. Defensively he sees limited snaps, but is a roaming safety allowed to key the QB and jump routes from his safety spot although he has corner skills, he's allowed to make more plays by lining up at safety and just reacting. Shows outstanding ball skills and has very good hands. Is a natural pass catcher and appears comfortable in every role he is in. Plays with confidence and is highly productive. He competes. Overall, Banks is an instinctive guy with very good overall tools and exceptional quickness and suddenness with the ball in his hands. Should make for a fine wide out or corner once he sees fulltime duty there.