Film Room Friday: LSU's Will Campbell and Texas' Kelvin Banks Jr.

Kelvin Banks Jr., OT, Texas

The competition between Banks and Campbell to be the top offensive tackle taken next April. As you can read in the embedded tweet, I am leaning towards Banks at this very early stage.

Banks is a little more sturdy in my eyes than Campbell, although they have similar builds. Banks is listed at 6'4", 324 pounds. Like Campbell, he is a true junior who has started the past two seasons at left tackle.

I put on the tape of Banks against Alabama, hoping to see him competing with two great edge rushers in Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell. Banks did not disappoint. He went toe-to-toe with both of them and I think won the matchup overall.

Right off the bat, Banks dominates Turner off the line in the run game. Turner attempts to make an inside move and Banks takes him out of the play entirely. You can see the leg drive, play strength and understanding of leverage on full display. He has a similar play around the 42-second mark. He takes a great angle against Jah-Marian Latham and washes him out of the play.

In the next clip, Turner comes tearing off the line and attempts a spin move. Banks handles it well, keeping his balance and using his hands to counter Turner's momentum. You will see this throughout the tape. Banks thrives at countering pass-rush moves and keeping the play in front of him. It crops up again at the 1:49 mark and Braswell breaks out a spin to no avail.

The next play on the cutup is a little troubling, a good example of some finetuning for Banks. He gets to the second level as the lead blocker on an end around. He does a nice job with the initial contact, but then he gets overextended and clearly holds the defender. It didn't get called, but it could have easily negated a big play on the edge.

There are a couple moments where you can see Banks struggle. On back-to-back plays in this cutup, starting at the 53-second mark, Banks goes up against Braswell. Both times, Braswell bends and turns the corner against him. On the first, Banks recovers well and manages to keep him out of the pocket. On the second, Braswell beats him and gets a hit on Quinn Ewers as he releases it.

Banks is a good athlete, but his foot speed can sometimes let him down. He usually covers enough distance on his kick slides, but sometimes he is half a step slow getting to his spot. It was not something that happened a ton on his film, but it is worth keeping an eye on in 2024.

One of the things I love most is Banks' power. He wins with it consistently. At the 1:23 mark of the cutup, you can see Turner attempt to bull rush him. Banks loses ground, but ultimately keeps Turner in front of him and re-anchors well to keep the pocket. Turner does turn up field and get a hit on Ewers, but that was because Ewers climbed the pocket. Hard to ask a whole lot more of Banks in that situation.

The play after that, the power shows up again. Banks down blocks on Tim Smith, a legit 300-pounder, and shoves him to the other side of the offensive line. Seriously, Smith winds up standing where the right tackle was lined up before the snap. Those are the absurd things Banks can do that few others in this draft class are capable of.

For as powerful as he can be, there is one more area that I tend to nitpick when watching Banks. At the 2-minute mark, he lines up opposite Turner and blows him off the ball at the snap. However, Turner uses that aggression against him, disengaging and allowing Banks to continue past him. Turner then helps wrap up Brooks for a short game.

I would love to see Banks sustain his blocks a bit longer. It is something he does not do enough of. His initial punch is elite, but then he often loses contact or focus, allowing defenders to disengage too easily. It's something that can be fixed and hopefully will be during his junior season.

Banks is a fantastic, fundamentally-sound prospect with great power and good size. He has some deficiencies, but he is my leader in the clubhouse in the race to be OT1. He will have every chance to prove himself as well, playing a full SEC conference schedule this year as the Longhorns make their debut in the SEC.