By Colin Dunlap ][ 10:58 a.m. Friday
Montour High School quarterback/defensive back 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.
Montour opens its season up on Aug. 29, with a home game against Class AAAA team Pine-Richland.
*UPDATE 11:45 A.M. --- Just got off the phone with E.J. Banks and here are some of the quotes he had about his selection of Notre Dame:
- “It means a lot to me to be going to Notre Dame,” Banks said. “I know
that, when I graduate from there, a lot of doors will be opened for me
that wouldn’t have been opened if I had chosen to go somewhere else.
For football, it is a great place, but it is a lot more than that and
all of that weighed into my decision.”
- “I have been up there [to South Bend] twice. And when was up there it was just a sense that all the coaches were so down to Earth. They were all like father figures and they were all in charge, but they understood that they had to let the players have their own personalities some. It was the perfect fit.”
- “Every program has its ups and downs, and some could say that Notre Dame has been down. But if you look at the people the program has coming in, they are going to be back on top, very soon. A big part of me going there is that I wanted to be there for when Notre Dame is back on top, and I think that will happen in my time there.”
*UPDATE 1:29 p.m. --- You can see Banks' highlight tape below:
Posted
Aug 08 2008, 11:02 AM
by
Colin Dunlap