“My parents were like, do we have to take any more visits,” Banks laughed.
That ended up being a negative, as E.J. Banks knew he wanted to be Irish over a week ago, choosing Notre Dame over Ohio State, West Virginia and several others.
“I had already seen all my favorites schools, some of those places twice,” Banks said.
Notre Dame was one of those places Banks tripped to twice, checking out the Irish campus for the first time at the spring game in April, and making a return trip back in June.
“This morning I was with my coach, we called from the athletic director’s phone, and he called coach (Charlie) Weis. Then he put it on speaker phone so me and my mom could talk to him.
“Coach Weis was like, ‘Hey E.J., heard we’re going to get a new defensive back.’ I was like, yeah, it’s true, I’m going to be a part of the Notre Dame family. And he was talking about how Coach (Corwin) Brown and Coach (John) Latina are going to be so happy.”
Banks becomes Notre Dame's 14th verbal commit, and is being recruited to play cornerback for the Irish. As a junior at Montour High, he used his 4.5 second speed in the 40-yard dash to register 52 tackles, intercept three passes and break up 10 more. As the starting quarterback, Banks rushed for 920 yards and 10 touchdowns, and also passed for 1,235 yards and six scores.
Banks will make his official visit for the Michigan game the weekend of September 13th, and he will join Tyler Stockton as an early enrollee for the spring semester.
“I was thinking a lot about life after football, and I like the coaches a lot,” Banks said of Notre Dame. “If I were going to make it to the NFL, I think coach Brown would help a lot.”