UW's Banks Enters Transfer Portal, Seeking Better Luck at Cornerback

The defensive back had back-to-back season-ending injuries for the Huskies.

Davon Banks, who suffered the indignity of incurring a season-ending injury in each of the past two seasons for the University of Washington football team, won't let it happen a third time.

On Friday, the sometimes hard-luck junior cornerback from San Jacinto, California, disclosed on social media he will enter the transfer portal in search of something else. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

At the UW, he often was on the verge of moving up in the secondary only to suffer upper-body injuries that abruptly ended his 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Two years ago, the 5-foot-11, 184-pound defensive back appeared in eight games and started twice before dislocating his shoulder while making a tackle against Oregon State and missing the rest of the schedule, including an Alamo Bowl victory over Texas.

Last season, Banks enjoyed a sensational season opener against Boise State when he broke up four passes, but he didn't make it through the next outing against Tulsa, going down with another season-curtailing injury. He missed nearly all of the Huskies' glorious run to the CFP national championship game, including the Pac-12 title game against Oregon, the Sugar Bowl against Texas and the postseason finale against Michigan.

This spring, he appeared relatively healthy for Jedd Fisch's new Huusky coaching staff and came up with a pair of interceptions in one practice, but he seemed to be mired down in the rotation, often coming out with the third set of corners for scrimmage plays.

Banks becomes the first UW scholarship player to leave the team during this transfer portal period possibly for good, with San Jacinto High teammate and Husky safety Vincent Holmes entering and withdrawing from the portal earlier in the week.

Emerging from high school, Banks was dealing with injuries and the pandemic, and planning on playing for Cerritos Junior College in Southern California, when Jimmy Lake's staff got a line on him. Then-UW secondary coach Will Harris watched him test out in a California football camp and offered him shortly after he had graduated from high school in San Jacinto, which is located between Los Angeles and Palm Springs.

Banks appeared in 14 career games for the Huskies, starting against Stanford and California in 2022, and leaves with 22 tackles, 6 PBUs and an interception.

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