Nick Saban addresses Marcus Banks’ midseason transfer portal entry

Alabama cornerback Marcus Banks, a former four-star recruit, entered the transfer portal Monday, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz. The report was later confirmed by Banks and the Alabama staff.

Head coach Nick Saban addressed the midseason loss of Marcus Banks, weighing in on the new era of transfer portal usage Wednesday during the SEC’s teleconference.

“Look, our goal and aspiration when we recruit every player here [is] to help them be successful personally, academically, athletically and we want to continue to try to do that everywhere we can with every player,” Saban said, via AL.com’s Mike Rodak. “But the circumstances that we have now where players can decide to do, basically, leave the team and go someplace else, we have to adapt to that.”

Despite the loss of Marcus Banks, Nick Saban is also encouraged by the progress at cornerback this season. After uncertainty early, veterans Josh Jobe and Jalyn Armour-Davis have combined with freshman Kool-Aid McKinstry to provide more consistent play.

“I’m not discouraged at all by the players that we have [at cornerback],” said Saban. “I’m encouraged by the players we have on the team and very much committed to coaching those guys. We’re making progress [at cornerback].”

More about Marcus Banks

Marcus Banks is a junior out of Houston, Texas, and was a member of the Crimson Tide’s 2019 recruiting class. Over his two seasons in Tuscaloosa, he saw action in 15 games, mostly on special teams.

Whenever the cornerback got a chance to play on the defensive side of the ball, he recorded eight total tackles. Six have come during the 2021 season, when Banks also added an interception against Mercer.

Marcus Banks released the following statement via Twitter on Monday night.

“Thank you to all of the coaches, staff, fans, and especially to all my brothers/teammates at The University of Alabama. With that being said I’ve officially entered my name in the NCCA Transfer portal with 2 years left of eligibility.”