Texas Football: NFL scout says Kelvin Banks Jr. has ‘unlimited upside’
The fortunes for the Texas football program in the NFL Draft are starting to look a lot more promising under head coach Steve Sarkisian than they did in the last couple of coaching regimes. Texas looks bound to have at least a few Day 1 and Day 2 picks in the 2023 NFL Draft.
And given that the Longhorns went without a single player selected in the 2022 NFL Draft, that is a good trend for the football program.
Sark and the Longhorns look to be recruiting and developing players at a level where we will see a number of Day 1 and Day 2 picks in the NFL Draft for the next few years.
One of the Longhorns players that definitely has the makings of a future first-round draft pick in the NFL is rising sophomore offensive tackle and Freshman All-American Kelvin Banks Jr. The former elite five-star recruit out of Summer Creek High School in Texas is already showing the tools and productivity to be one of the top offensive tackle prospects in the NFL Draft.
Texas football has a future first-round NFL Draft pick in OT Kelvin Banks Jr.
In fact, he ended his true freshman campaign with the longest streak of pass-blocking snaps without allowing a quarterback pressure of any Power Five offensive tackle.
Kelvin Banks hasn’t allowed a single QB pressure in more than his last 150 snaps in pass protection, the longest active streak of any P5 offensive tackle. pic.twitter.com/uBZdIoDH2o
— Hook'em Headlines (@HookemHeadlines) December 30, 2022
Banks was also one of the three highest-graded offensive tackles in the Big 12 in pass blocking in the season that was.
The 6-foot-5 and 320-pound Banks has clearly made a big impression after his first season in college. And it looks like he’s truly impressed some NFL scouts from his short time in college already.
A report from TFB Texas (donor content) on Jan. 17 mentions that one NFL source said that Banks’ play during his true freshman campaign put him on the draft board of every team in the league. This source also said that Banks is viewed as an offensive tackle prospect with “unlimited upside”.
Moreover, while it is way too early to realistically figure out a big board for the 2025 NFL Draft, the early returns on mock drafts are really promising for Banks. A way-too-early 2025 NFL Mock Draft from draftcountdown.com last fall pegged Banks as a top-three pick in that class.
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Texas finished up the 2022 season with a record of 8-5 (6-3 Big 12) after a 27-20 loss to the No. 12 Washington Huskies in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29. Offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood and the Longhorns are set to return every single starter along the O-Line from last year’s squad in 2023.