Ole Miss added another impact defender to its secondary on Sunday, picking up a commitment from South Alabama transfer portal safety Yam Banks.
Banks, a 6-foot-1, 208-pounder from Ridgeland, Miss., had 45 tackles and an interception last season for South Alabama. He had 50 tackles and six interceptions in 2022 and 49 tackles in 2021. Banks played very sparingly as a freshman in 2020.
“Yam Banks embodies so much of what we want this program to be, day-in and day-out,” South Alabama coach Kane Wommack told AL.com during Banks’ All-Sun Belt Conference season in 2022. “He is a humble player, has great rapport with his teammates, loves to be around them. He is always playing ping-pong or always hanging out with them in the locker room.
“And yet at the same time, when it’s time to work, he locks in and operates at an elite level.”
Wommack played Banks at the “husky” position, which most teams call their “nickel” back.
“When we watched film on some of the things that he had done in the past, even in practice reps, you recognize that (Banks) has man-coverage ability,” Wommack told AL.com. “The number one thing that we look for in a Husky is, can this guy cover man-to-man in a slot? And often that’s going to be the best player on the field for our opponent.
“Our defense is always either limited by or we have the opportunity to be ‘multiple’ based off of that Husky. And so he really makes the thing go, his ability to play man-coverage. And then I think where he’s taking his game to another level is his physicality in the run game and on the perimeter screens, and also in the way that he blitzes off the edge. He certainly is a complete Husky and we’re not limited by him.”
Banks chose Ole Miss over Florida and others. He will enroll at Ole Miss later this month and join a defense that has been overhauled via the transfer portal. Earlier this cycle, Ole Miss landed transfer portal commitments on defense from linemen Walter Nolen (Texas A&M), Tyler Baron (Tennessee) and Princely Umanmielen (Florida), linebacker Chris Paul Jr. (Arkansas) and defensive backs Louis Moore (Indiana), Key Lawrence (Oklahoma) and Tahveon Nicholson (Illinois).
