Tavian Remond Banks (born February 17, 1974) is a former

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

in 1998 and 1999.

College and high school careers

Tavian Banks was a high school standout in both football and soccer at

Bettendorf High School Bettendorf High School (BHS) is a public four-year comprehensive high school located in Bettendorf, Iowa and is part of the Bettendorf Community School District. History Early history Prior to its opening in 1951, there was no high school in ...

Bulldogs in

Bettendorf, Iowa Bettendorf is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States. It is the 15th largest city of Iowa and the third-largest city in the "Quad Cities". It is part of the Davenport– Moline– Rock Island, IA- IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. The popu ...

, breaking many school records. Banks chose to play for the in-state

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

over offers from national powers

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. After being a backup to standout

Sedrick Shaw Sedrick Anton Shaw (born November 16, 1973) is a former professional American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). He was drafted in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He played three ...

for most of his first three years, Banks became the full-time starter his senior season . Tavian coined the nickname "Big Money" while at Iowa as a play on his last name. During his senior campaign of

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, Banks rushed for a school record 1,691 yards and 17

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

, an Iowa single season record that would stand until broken by

Shonn Greene Shonn Greene (born August 21, 1985) is a former American football running back. He played college football for the University of Iowa, where in 2008, he was recognized as a unanimous All-American and also won the Doak Walker Award and the Jim ...

in 2008. In the secondgame of the 1997 season, Banks rushed for 314 yards and scored four times in Iowa's victory over

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. Banks holds the school record for touchdowns scored in a career with 33. Iowa finished 1997 with a record of 7–5 after losing to

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, 17–7, in the

1997 Sun Bowl The 1997 Norwest Sun Bowl featured the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Arizona State Sun Devils. After a scoreless first quarter, Arizona State scored first, with a 35-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Steve Campbell to wide receiver Lenzie Jackson ...

, in what was coach

Hayden Fry John Hayden Fry (February 28, 1929 – December 17, 2019) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 1962 to 1972, North Texas State University—now known ...

's last bowl appearance. Fry retired after the 1998 season.

NFL career

Banks was drafted by the

in the fourth round of the

1998 NFL Draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...

, the same draft in which Jaguars great Fred Taylor was drafted in the first round. After a promising start to the 1999 season, Banks suffered a major knee injury during a game against the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

. Banks tore the

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

(ACL),

posterior cruciate ligament The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) is a ligament in each knee of humans and various other animals. It works as a counterpart to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It connects the posterior intercondylar area of the tibia to the medial cond ...

(PCL), and

fibular collateral ligament The lateral collateral ligament (LCL, long external lateral ligament or fibular collateral ligament) is a ligament located on the lateral (outer) side of the knee, and thus belongs to the extrinsic knee ligaments and posterolateral corner of the k ...

(LCL) in his left knee and missed over two years due to surgery and rehab. Banks attempted a comeback with the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

in 2002. He was named to the

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

in 2003. Banks was placed on waivers by the Saints in at the conclusion of the 2004 season.

Coaching career

Banks served as assistant running backs

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

for the

Louisville Cardinals The Louisville Cardinals (also known as the Cards) are the NCAA athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. The Cardinals teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, beginning in the 2014 season. While playing in the Big East Co ...

in 2006, but decided to leave the team when head coach

Bobby Petrino Robert Patrick Petrino (born March 10, 1961) is an American football coach. He currently serves as the Offensive Coordinator for the Texas A&M Aggies. He is the former head coach for the Missouri State Bears. Previously, he served as the head coa ...

left for the

. Currently, Banks is the C.E.O. of Carpe Diem Sports Enhancement in

Yorkville, Illinois Yorkville (officially the United City of Yorkville) is a city and county seat of Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall County, Illinois, United States. The population was 21,533 at th2020 census History In 1836, the city of Yorkville was settled ...

. He is currently a running backs coach at Naperville Central Highschool. In 2008 Tavian Banks was inducted into Iowa High School Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2009 he was elected to Quad-City Sports Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Tavian 1974 births Living people American football running backs Iowa Hawkeyes football players Jacksonville Jaguars players Louisville Cardinals football coaches New Orleans Saints players People from Moline, Illinois Sportspeople from Davenport, Iowa Bettendorf High School alumni