HOUSTON \u2013 For Shad Banks Jr., he\u2019s on the cusp of achieving a vision he set a long time ago.<\/p>\n
The former North Shore standout wide receiver and TCU linebacker works out for the hometown Texans on Thursday at their local prospect day, per a league source.<\/p>\n
Banks excelled in the East-West Shrine Bowl all-star game and as a starter for UTSA after transferring. He made several tackles and prevented a touchdown with a clutch pass deflection in the red zone.<\/p>\n
At UTSA, he made an immediate impact with a team-high 94 tackles, 7 1\/2 for losses, two sacks, three interceptions, one forced fumble, three fumble recoveries and two touchdowns. He was named to the all-conference team as he started every game. He returned an interception for a touchdown and recorded a fumble against East Carolina and was named conference defensive player of the week.<\/p>\n
He returned a fumble 41 yards for a touchdown and forced a fumble in a 61-13 rout of Rice.<\/p>\n
He met with the Texans at his Pro Day along with the Atlanta Falcons, Washington Commanders, Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions. He also payed in the Hula Bowl and American Bowl.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood experiences,\u201d Banks told KPRC 2 in a telephone interview. \u201cIt was good being around NFL coaches. I went out there and played hard. I\u2019m a playmaker. I\u2019m always around the ball and trying to get to the ball. I\u2019m a leader. I lead by example. I love the game. I\u2019m passionate about the game. I hate losing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Banks didn\u2019t get an invitation to the NFL scouting combine, he did well at a widely-attended Pro Day with a 4.63 in the 40-yard dash , a 32-inch vertical leap and excelled in drills. Banks trains with elite trainer Justin Allen at All-En Performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody at UTSA is a great person,\u201d Banks said. \u2018The coaches want what\u2019s best for you. Going there, I felt like a kid when I first started playing again. They just wanted me to get better and have fun.”<\/p>\n
At North Shore, Banks had 17 touchdowns and 1,312 receiving yards as a sophomore on a state championship squad. He chose Texas A&M over Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, Oklahoma and Texas before transferring to TCU and intercepting one pass.<\/p>\n
\u201cI committed pretty early and didn\u2019t have official visits because of pandemic,\u201d Banks said. \u201cOnce I got there, I realized I could succeed somewhere else not at receiver. It wasn\u2019t screens and posts. I had to run more routes. They changed my position. They wanted me to play more running back. I thought I was better at linebacker.<\/p>\n
\u201cI only lost three games in high school,\u201d Banks said. \u201cHigh school just made me a real competitor. I hate losing more than I like winning. We won so much there. They taught me how to compete no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the Big 12 championship game, he had a career-high 10 tackles against Kansas State. He finished 2023 with 62 tackles, 8 1\/2 for losses, one sack and a forced fumble. After being limited to four games due to an injury, he entered the transfer portal.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt TCU, I got my labrum repaired and then the defensive coordinator got fired after my surgery and we had a whole new defensive staff,\u201d Banks said. \u201cI was supposed to work my way back in. It never happened. Unfortunately, I got a concussion. They had changed my position to H-back. That\u2019s why I entered the portal again.\u201d<\/p>\n
In San Antonio, Banks became a starting middle linebacker and captain of the defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cLoved playing there,\u201d Banks said. \u201cIt went pretty smooth.\u201d<\/p>\n
North Shore has produced several NFL players, including K\u2019Lavon Chaisson, Upton Stout and Zach Evans. Banks was a first-team all-state and Offensive MVP as a senior.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great tradition,\u201d Banks said. \u201cA ton of my friends have made it to the NFL. Can\u2019t wait to get my shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 For Shad Banks Jr., he\u2019s on the cusp of achieving a vision he set a long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[4222,7,2682,3131,221,253,2368,6,15,117001,117000,6129,222,3211],"class_list":{"0":"post-857609","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-east-west-shrine-bowl","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-high-school-football","11":"tag-high-school-sports","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-texans","14":"tag-houstontexans","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-nfl-draft","17":"tag-north-shore-high-school","18":"tag-shadrach-banks-jr","19":"tag-tcu","20":"tag-texans","21":"tag-utsa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}