Rivals NewSpeed combine star RB Jeremy Banks talks recruiting

The Latest: Class of 2018 Cordova, Tenn. running back Jeremy Banks made the trek south to New Orleans to compete in Saturday’s Rivals New Speed Combine presented by adidas in hopes of earning an invite to Sunday’s Rivals 3 Stripe Camp presented by adidas. He not only accomplished his mission, he may have also helped his recruiting stock quite a bit going forward. Banks is already on the radar of some programs, including Memphis, and will likely be known by several more in the coming weeks. Rivals.com talked to him after his impressive performance on Saturday to discuss recruiting.

In His Words: “Memphis has been looking at me for a long time. They invited me to their elite junior day last month and when I was there Coach Dickey told me the good news that I had an offer. I really love it there. It feels like family. It was great to get the first offer and I know many more are coming.”

On fit in Memphis' offense: “They see me as a running back and that’s my natural position. But they throw the ball a lot and I feel like I’m a natural receiver out of the backfield and I’m a good power runner so I think I would be a great fit.

On impressing at Saturday’s event: “I was told I was going to get the opportunity but was I going to be prepared to handle it? I felt like I was very prepared today and I came out and just did my best, ran hard, I worked hard coming into this and it paid off.”

Rivals Reaction: Banks has also received early interest from programs like Southern Miss and Wisconsin so even in advance of his performance Saturday he was likely to see an uptick in recruiting. Memphis was smart to offer early and now the Tigers will have to battle to keep out-of-state programs from nabbing a player from their backyard.