NFL Draft Diamonds Prospect Interview: D’Andre Banks, OL, Kansas University

NFL Draft Diamonds website has been providing our readers Prospect Interviews over the past 3 years and this year we mixed things up a bit. Our questions are designed to give our readers a little more insight on the draft eligible player. We hope to bring you more than 500 interviews of NFL Draft Prospects this season. You will be able to track them all on the front page of our website in the banner to the right.  Now let’s meet our next prospect!!!!

What is your name?

D’Andre Banks

What is your Height/Weight?

6’3/315

What is your position?

Offensive Line

Where do you play college football?

Kansas University

Football is about giving back, what is the coolest thing you have done off the field?

Walk kids to school and read to them as well. We are superheroes in their eyes so it is just good to make their day.

What was the hardest college class you ever had to take?

Coms 235, it was a rhetoric class in which we had to break down and analyze speeches from politicians.

Where are you from?

Killeen, TX

Who is your role model, and why?

My parents. They helped mold me into the man I am today and I cannot thank them enough for raising me the way they did.

Did you play any other sports growing up?

Baseball, Basketball, and Track and Field.

Did you play any other positions in football?

Any spot on the O-line I can play.

At your position, what separates you from others?

My mental aspect and how I can break things down before they happen.

When you are breaking down film, what do you look for?

I look for individual player tendencies. Looking for these can give you the upper hand when in certain situations. If you know what they are going to do before it happens, it gives you an edge.

Who was the toughest player you ever faced?

Jordan Willis, K-State

If you could compare your play to one player in the NFL who would it be and why?

Kelvin Beachum, he has great feet and plays with the right mentality you are supposed to play this game with.

What was the biggest obstacle in your life you had to overcome, and how did you overcome it?

Was not being recruited coming out of high school. I had zero offers my senior year and had to walk-on at my JUCO. Getting from there to where I am today is the biggest obstacle.

Do you have any pre-game rituals?

I like to listen to old school music. I try not to hype myself up too much.

What is your biggest strength?

My ability to play any position on the line and my footwork.

What is your biggest weakness?

Not being the normal 6’6 tackle.

If I were a GM and gave you a second to sell yourself, what would you say?

That I am a great addition to your team because I am willing to learn and I am very coachable. Whatever you need done on the field, consider it done.

Who was your favorite player and/or NFL team growing up?

Michael Vick

If you could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would you choose? 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Ali, and Michael Jordan.

What will be the first big item you buy once you are in the NFL?

Something nice for my parents, they deserve it.