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Texas OT Kelvin Banks wins the 2024 Outland Trophy

On3 imageby:Justin Wells•12/12/24
Kelvin Banks
Kelvin Banks (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

A night after winning the Lombardi Award, Texas’ Kelvin Banks won the Outland Trophy during the Home Depot College Football awards on ESPN on Thursday night. The Outland Trophy is awarded annually to the nation’s best college interior lineman on offense or defense.

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Banks joins T’Vondre Sweat, who took home the honors in 2023, defensive tackle Scott Appleton (1963), guard lineman Tommy Nobis (1965), and defensive tackle Brad Shearer (1977) as previous Longhorns to take home the award. All four of Texas’ Outland Trophy recipients are native Texans. Banks becomes the ninth finalist for the trophy in program history.

In addition to being named an Outland Trophy finalist, Banks is a part of an offensive line that is a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award.

Banks, a junior from Humble (Texas) Summer Creek, started all 12 games in the regular season and missed his first career game on Saturday in the SEC Championship game. That broke a streak of 39 straight starts that began with the first game of his true freshman year.

One of the best linemen in school history, Banks has a chance to become the first Longhorn offensive lineman taken in the first round of the NFL Draft since the Buffalo Bills selected Mike Williams with the fourth overall pick in 2002.

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Remaining college football awards will be issued Thursday night at the Home Depot College Football Awards show. In addition to Banks being up for the Outland, Jahdae Barron is a finalist for the Thorpe Award, Pete Kwiatkowski is a finalist for the Broyles Award, and the Texas offensive line is a finalist for the Joe Moore Award.

On3 Personal Life

Banks embodies everything that Steve Sarkisian wants in a Texas Longhorn. “I brought Kelvin because from day one he’s been a model in our program of what it means to be a Longhorn,” Sarkisian said at the 2024 SEC Media Days. “His work ethic, his commitment to the program, his leadership, the way he does everything. Not only on the field but off the field. If I can say a guy who I want you to emulate, I want you to emulate Kelvin Banks. And the way he’s gone about his business has been tremendous. You all see the play on Saturday. I see who he is on a daily basis, and he represents us as good or better than anybody in our program.” Banks was one of the most heavily recruited players in the country coming out of Atascocita High School in Humble, just north of Houston. During his first two seasons at UT, he didn’t miss a start in 27 career games and earned some form of All-American honors in each of his first two seasons. “I’ll say the biggest step I want to take is me being a leader, on and off the field,” Banks said. “I’m more vocal as time grew. And as I got older, I kind of started voicing my opinions on things and just trying to make my teammates better.”

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