Texas Football left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. has been awarded the 79th Outland Trophy, as announced by the Greater Omaha Sports Committee on Thursday evening. The Outland Trophy, given annually since 1946 to the nation’s top college interior lineman on offense or defense, marks the second consecutive year and fifth time overall that a Longhorn has received this prestigious honor. Last season, defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat earned the award, making Texas the first school to win back-to-back Outland Trophies since Nebraska’s three-year streak from 1981-83.
Banks joins an elite group of Longhorn Outland Trophy winners, including defensive tackle Scott Appleton (1963), guard Tommy Nobis (1965), defensive tackle Brad Shearer (1977), and Sweat (2023). Notably, all five recipients are native Texans. Additionally, Banks was named this year’s Lombardi Award winner on Wednesday night in Houston, becoming the first Longhorn to win both the Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award.
The 6-foot-4 offensive lineman from Humble, Texas, also earned the SEC’s prestigious Jacobs Blocking Trophy and was recognized as a first-team All-SEC member earlier this week.
As a three-year starter with 39 consecutive starts at left tackle for the Longhorns, Banks is a crucial part of the Texas offensive line, which was recently named a finalist for the Joe Moore Award, given to the nation’s most outstanding offensive line unit. Throughout the season, Banks received multiple weekly honors, including the Outland Trophy’s National Player of the Week on Oct. 15, and SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week twice (Sept. 30 and Oct. 14). Before the season began, Banks was named preseason first-team All-America by The Associated Press, CBS Sports, ESPN, Sporting News, and The Athletic, in addition to being honored on the preseason first-team All-SEC by the media and league’s coaches.
