As a true freshman in 2009, Johnthan Banks found his way into the starting lineup as a safety when starter Zach Smith was sidelined with a concussion, or as Dan Mullen put it, he “got dinged up.” Banks went on to become the only player to intercept all-everything Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and return it for a touchdown &mdash and he did it twice. Banks was later named to the freshman All-SEC team as a safety.
Here’s the kicker: he won’t be playing at safety this year. At least, the coaches hope he won’t.
Banks is switching to cornerback, his original spot as a backup when he came to Mississippi State. It was lack of depth that had Banks moved to safety last year, and it is a surplus of depth that has allowed new defensive coordinator Manny Diaz to move the sophomore to cornerback, where both Diaz and Banks believe the biggest impact can be made.
“I like playing corner because I wanna be the best,” Banks said. “I feel like corner is the hardest job on the field, other than quarterback. If I wanna be one of the best, known as one of the best, I gotta do one of the hardest jobs . I gotta go against the best to be the best.”
The 6’2″, 180-pound Banks will certainly get his chance to do that, as he will face two of the nation’s most well-known and perhaps most feared wide receivers this season in Alabama’s Julio Jones and Georgia’s A.J. Green.
The difference between safety and cornerback may seem small &mdash both are listed as defensive backs, and both play in the secondary &mdash but the responsibilities of the two are fairly different.
Playing safety entails many things on the field, and one can line up in a variety of different places before the snap. Safeties have a bit more freedom and may switch from defending the run or the pass on any given play.
Cornerbacks, on the other hand, typically have a more specific duty: keeping the person in front of them from catching the ball.
Perhaps the explanations are best left to the players and coaches.
“I’ll say, at safety, I felt like you gotta be way more physical,” Banks said. “I feel like a safety in this defense is more of a linebacker, a smaller linebacker.”
Diaz, who has been coaching defense throughout his career, said there is a bit more pressure on a cornerback than a safety.
“It really has to do with the fact you’re largely responsible for a wide receiver out on an island on your own for the majority of the game,” Diaz said. “Where a safety, you could be just patrolling center field or you could be down in the box playing the run. You know, [cornerbacks] have to play some man-to-man on some wideouts, and there’s some really good wideouts in this conference. [They’re] maybe not as responsible in the run game as the pass game.”
If an injury were to occur &mdash such as the one to Smith last season – and the Bulldogs needed a safety, Mullen said it is certainly plausible Banks would fill in, and Diaz said Banks “would play nose tackle if he felt like it would help the team.”
Naturally, that would not be his preference, but Banks said he is glad he made the switch and that cornerback is his favorite position.
The thing many forget about Banks and his impressive 2009 season is he was a true freshman intercepting Heisman winners at only 18 years old. He believes that with a year under his proverbial belt, he has plenty of room to improve his game, particularly in the mental side of the game.
“I was young and dumb and I was out there, half of the time, I didn’t know what I was doing,” Banks said. “This year I’m gonna go out there, and I’m gonna be confident in myself. I’m gonna know what to do and what I can do. I’m gonna know everything about this receiver that I’m going against. I’m gonna know my coverages. We’re gonna be good back there in the secondary.”
Having said all this, and with the season opener coming Saturday evening, how is the switch going?
“It’s gone well,” Diaz said. “He’s a versatile kid, and Johnthan’s a good football player. We can put him in a lot of different spots and I think he’d help us. Really good ball skills, and a knack for making a play. Then he’s a good human being, which makes him dependable and you know he’s gonna do his job, which makes him a good player.”