Tony Banks (American Football)
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Anthony Lamar Banks (born April 5, 1973) is an American former professional
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player who was a
quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...
for 10 seasons in the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
(NFL). He played
college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
for the
Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 Varsity team, varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan Army, Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the sc ...
. Selected by the St. Louis Rams in the second round of the 1996 NFL draft, Banks also was a member of the
Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...
,
Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...
, and
Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...
. With the Ravens, he was part of the team that won the franchise's first
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...
title in Super Bowl XXXV.


Early life

Banks attended Hoover High School in
San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, and was a letterman in
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
,
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
, and
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
.


College career

Banks played right field for the
Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...
' Class A team in Ft. Myers, Florida, before enrolling at San Diego Mesa College in San Diego. He played there two years before transferring to
Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...
. Banks places among the all-time record holders at Michigan State. He ranks sixth in passing completion percentage, tenth in career passing yards, and tenth in passing touchdowns. Banks was the first quarterback selected in the 1996 NFL draft. In the October 2010 issue of Sports Illustrated, former NFL agent Josh Luchs claimed he paid Banks 'several hundred dollars a month' while Banks was at Michigan State, a violation of NCAA eligibility rules.


College statistics


Professional career


St. Louis Rams

Banks was selected in the second round of the 1996 NFL draft by the St. Louis Rams as the first quarterback selected in that year's draft. He soon found himself the starter as a rookie. Banks recorded significant yardage and touchdowns but also ended up setting a record for fumbles that first season, with 21. The team finished with a 6–10 record. Throughout the next two seasons Banks's play failed to improve significantly as the Rams finished last in their division with records of 5–11 and 4–12. During his time in St. Louis he developed a reputation for having a cocky attitude and a poor work ethic. After a 14–0 loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 7 of 1998 he skipped the team flight back to St. Louis and did not appear at practice the next day. After three seasons with the Rams, the team signed Trent Green and then traded Banks to the Ravens for a fifth and seventh round draft pick.


Baltimore Ravens

Banks accumulated the best statistics of his career with the
Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...
. The Ravens started Scott Mitchell and Stoney Case early in 1999, but neither worked out, so the team turned to Banks. In 1999, he threw a career-high 17 TDs next to only eight interceptions. He also mustered 2,136 passing yards. Banks played well in early 2000, but his fumbles and interceptions cost the team two games in October. Feeling the offense needed a spark after failing to score a touchdown over an entire month, the team replaced him with backup Trent Dilfer, who would remain the starter through the team's Super Bowl XXXV win. He finished 2000 with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions and was released in the off-season.


Dallas Cowboys

Leading into the 2001 season, Banks was signed by the
Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...
to replace the recently released and later retired Troy Aikman; however, on August 15, 2001, Banks was abruptly released by the Cowboys who chose instead to go with rookie Quincy Carter.


Washington Redskins

Later that year, Banks signed with the Washington Redskins during
Marty Schottenheimer Martin Edward Schottenheimer (; September 23, 1943 – February 8, 2021) was an American professional football linebacker and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 21 seasons. He was the head coach of the Cl ...
's one-year tenure as head coach. While with the Redskins, he became the first quarterback to follow an 0–5 start with five straight wins. He was released after the season.


Houston Texans

Banks signed with the
Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...
. He was the second-string quarterback for the
Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...
behind David Carr. He claims that he was asked by Houston's coaches not to play too well in practice to ensure that he would not upstage David Carr, who the team had drafted first overall in the 2002 NFL draft. During his four-year tenure with the team, Banks received minimal playing time. On February 28, 2006, Banks was released by the Texans. He never returned to the NFL.


NFL career statistics


Regular season


Postseason


Coaching career

On March 9, 2020, Greenhill School, a private k-12 school in Addison, Texas, announced that they were hiring Banks as their head football coach. He had previously served the school as an assistant coach.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Tony 1973 births Living people American football quarterbacks Baltimore Ravens players Dallas Cowboys players Michigan State Spartans football players St. Louis Rams players Houston Texans players San Diego Mesa Olympians football players Washington Redskins players Players of American football from San Diego 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen