Iowa football: 30 greatest players in Hawkeyes history
By Andrew Wade
It may have just been one year, but Brad Banks senior season with the Iowa football team was remarkable. He led the Hawkeyes to an 11-2 record and Kirk Ferentz’s first appearance in a BCS Bowl (which the Hawks did lose to the USC Trojans).
Banks, a transfer from Hinds Community College, was largely unknown heading into his final year in Iowa City, but he made sure to change that, as he tossed the ball for 2,573 yards and 26 touchdowns to only five interceptions.
His senior year helped to put the Iowa football team back on the map and Banks earned quite a bit of credit after the season winning the Davey O’Brien Award, AP Player of the Year and the Big Ten Player of the Year Award. He was also named First-Team All-American and finished second in the Heisman Trophy race, the first to do so since the great Chuck Long.
Brad Banks career passing efficiency of 155.53 is the current Hawkeyes record and his passer efficiency rating of 157.1 his senior year was a record before Ricky Stanzi broke it by .53 points.
Post college, Banks received minimal interest from the NFL and bounced around a bit in Canada and the Arena Football League.
Although seemingly underrated by mainstream media, Banks put on one of the finest displays of quarterbacking in the last 20 years of college football.