Charles Johnson was teaching at Joppatowne when, at an offseason seven-on-seven camp at Edgewood, then-Rams coach John Siemsen instructed him to maintain an eye fixed out for Deonte Banks.
“I wasn’t really concerned about some ninth grader at the time,” Johnson, who later took over Edgewood’s program earlier than Banks’ junior season, remembers pondering. “But he told me [Banks] could be the program’s next high Division I guy or professional football player.”
Edgewood hasn’t been often called a pipeline for high soccer gamers, however Banks grew to become this system’s first graduate to be drafted to the NFL on Thursday when the cornerback out of the University of Maryland was taken by the New York Giants with the twenty fourth decide within the first spherical.
Siemsen noticed the potential early on when Banks transferred in from St. Frances halfway by his freshman 12 months. He noticed a quiet confidence and perpetual starvation that might rework into the uber-physical defensive again certain for East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Banks grew to become the primary Division I signee Siemsen coached, though it lasted for just one 12 months. Siemsen had earlier stops at Patterson, Dundalk and Kenwood earlier than a three-year stint at Edgewood, the place he ultimately transitioned into an administrative function.
But in his remaining season as coach, he received an up-close glimpse at a future professional.
“I don’t have a crystal ball,” Siemsen quipped. “But his fluidity, the way he moved on the field, was effortless. He didn’t have that awkward ninth grade year. He just moved. It was awesome to watch and he was a pick-six machine.”
Edgewood’s offensive coordinator, Brooks Kimbrough, was notably struck by his consciousness on the sector coupled together with his aggressive nature, calling him “a man amongst boys.”
“My son [Marquez played at Bel Air and] would come home and tell me,” Kimbrough stated, “He’d be like, ‘Dad, our linebacker said he was there but he blinked for a split second and Deonte was already 20 yards down the field.”
It didn’t take lengthy for Edgewood to grow to be a revolving door for faculty recruiters.
Johnson remembers one specifically. It was one of many first low-major Division I packages to indicate curiosity, sending a coach to go to the Harford County college. Johnson known as Banks out of sophistication to satisfy him. It was the lifeless of winter, so Banks was outfitted in his heaviest coat and baggiest sweatpants.
The coach, who Johnson declined to call, checked out Banks and requested plainly, “Do you lift weights? I can’t tell if you lift at all.”
Banks has lengthy been identified for his work ethic within the weight room — late nights and early mornings pleading for a key to enter. His businesslike strategy notably began with lifting weights as a center schooler behind a barbershop or operating alone at Montebello Hill in Baltimore.
When that faculty coach failed to differentiate his sculpted body, Johnson instructed Banks that the following time a coach is within the constructing, he’d higher put on the tightest muscle shirt he owns to keep away from any extra confusion about Banks’ dedication to his craft.
“I noticed his senior year,” Johnson stated, “this kid has a body that a senior in college would have.”
When the following coach visited, Siemsen remembers Banks sporting “the tightest outfit I’ve ever seen.”
The coach requested Banks to face up from his chair in Siemsen’s workplace. He pulled out his telephone in awe and requested to take an image.
If nothing else, that coach was nicely conscious Banks labored out. He instructed the three-star recruit on the spot he was precisely the caliber of participant they have been searching for.
But it wasn’t Maryland, the college Banks had set his sights on his total soccer life.
The Terps began displaying curiosity the summer time earlier than Banks’ senior 12 months. They have been nosy, too, incessantly asking Johnson for updates on which different faculties have been visiting Edgewood or inquiring about who else supplied him.
“The funny thing with Maryland is, I think they offered him a scholarship but nobody knew,” Johnson stated. “Maryland called me and said, ‘Coach, we need to know. Deonte hasn’t told us anything but we need to know, is he interested in coming to Maryland?’”
Johnson was bewildered. “You want him!?” he replied. Johnson known as Banks to let him know the Terps have been prepared for him to signal. Banks couldn’t discover a pen quick sufficient, committing on June 23, 2018.
It was the conclusion of his first of two goals. The second got here to fruition Thursday night time with a telephone name from common supervisor Joe Schoen within the Giants conflict room.
Banks stood in entrance of his TV. His closest kin occupied the room behind him. With black sun shades shading the emotion in his eyes and his fingers interlocked atop his head, Banks reveled within the second he lengthy believed would come.
“I went back and told John Siemsen,” Johnson stated, “‘You were the first one to tell me about him.’ I said, ‘John, I remember one time I was at your school and you pointed to Deonte and said, “Charles, that’s gonna be our next big-time ballplayer.”’”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com