Former University of Iowa All-America quarterback Brad Banks led the 2002 Hawkeyes to a Big Ten co-championship; a perfect 8-0 league mark and an 11-2 overall record. That team made their first ever BcS appearance vs. USC in the Orange Bowl.
Banks was runner-up to USC’s Carson Palmer (you might have heard of him, he made a lot of news with the Cincinnati Bengals lately) in the 2002 Heisman Trophy race. So Palmer essentially beat him twice- for the Heisman, and in the bowl game. But Banks won the AP college football player of the year award, Davey O’Brien Award as the nation’s top collegiate quarterback. He was also named Big Ten Player of the Year and the Big Ten’s Most Valuable Player.
He’s been named honorary captain for Saturday’s game against Tennessee Tech.
Banks will accompany the Iowa captains to the center of the field for the pre-game coin flip. He will also be with the Hawkeyes in the locker room before and after the game and on the sidelines during the contest.
During the 2002 season the Hawkeyes set an all-time school record for touchdowns in a season (60). Banks had 2,996 yards of total offense that year, a figure that still ranks third in the Iowa record books. His career passing efficiency (155.53) is still the best in Iowa football annal
Had Iowa not lost to Iowa State in ’02 they would have been undefeated in regular season and may have been selected to play in the Fiesta Bowl for the BCS championship.
Banks went unselected in the 2003 NFL Draft. He did sign with the Washington Redskins, but was quickly cut. He then signed with the Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League in 2004, and later played with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Montréal Alouettes. Brad later joined the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena League. On this past April fool’s day, Banks set a Barnstormers single game record in touchdowns with an 11 TD (10 passing, 1 rushing) performance against the San Jose SaberCats at the HP Pavilion. Iowa won 76-69.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
He does regular weekly radio spots in Chicago and Cleveland and has appeared on live shows all across the world from Houston to New Zealand. You can follow him on Twitter