Banks

Hollidaysburg senior Josh Banks, the Altoona Mirror’s High School Football Player of the Year, officially signed to play college football at Penn State on Friday alongside several of his classmates.

Banks will head to Penn State as a preferred walk-on, but his high school coach believes he has the tools to make an impact in University Park.

“The biggest thing is his character,” Hollidaysburg football coach Homer DeLattre said. “His understanding of hard work, goal setting and how he’s a process-oriented kid that takes care of his body that’s into nutrition and weight training — all of those things are things you need to do as a Division I athlete. He does those things well.”

Banks made his decision in late January but wanted to wait to sign with his friends that also made collegiate commitments Friday.

Cole DeLattre (Saint Francis University) and Draven Peters (Allegheny College) will continue their football careers. Donald Miller will play baseball at Allegheny College, Kasen Metzger will play basketball at Saint Francis, and Sahara McNeal will play volleyball at Chatham University.

“I could have signed way back in February,” Banks said. “But I wanted the opportunity to sign with my buddies. I love being with all these guys each and every day. All the players who have come out of Hollidaysburg show the kind of program we have and just the caliber of players our school produces.”

The Hollidaysburg football program, specifically, has produced a lot of collegiate athletes over the last few years including Hunter Albright, who is also at Penn State, and Wyatt Maines, who is moving up the depth chart at James Madison.

“We’ll have 11 playing at the next level this year,” DeLattre said. “That says a lot about our program, our coaches, the community and our culture in the program. Kids love playing football. They love working hard, setting goals and it definitely shows with opportunities at the next level. Coaches are looking for those kinds of players, and they love Hollidaysburg kids.”

Players like Banks, Albright and Maines help inspire the next generation of Golden Tigers.

“I think it’s the love of the game,” DeLattre said. “They love playing the sport. The coaches do a good job at finding the right fit for them to play in college. A lot of our kids that go to college play right away within the first year or two of being there. That says a lot about our program and how we run things here. That definitely comes from seeing kids have success. We have had captains over the last three or four years at the college level, which says a lot about our program.”

Banks was a major leader for Hollidaysburg this past season when he helped the Golden Tigers go unbeaten in the regular season and win a District 6 title and advance to the PIAA quarterfinals for the second year in a row.

“He was a great leader by example for our program that showed the way,” DeLattre said. “Maybe not as much vocally, but with his play, effort, practice and preparation throughout the year he definitely showed the younger guys how to go and took full advantage of his preparation to make himself a great football player.”

Banks switched positions midway through his varsity career, which opened doors like the one he eventually walked through to go to Penn State.

“I like starting off at ground zero,” Banks said. “I know I’m not coming in on any athletic money. I kind of like being able to start over and get back to work. In my high school career, switching from my sophomore to junior season two days before we played against Altoona, I made the switch to linebacker. That was a little under two years ago, so each day moving forward I have made tons of strides learning about the linebacker position. I played defensive back my whole life until that. Going (to Penn State) is a great way for me to start to develop and become a better football player.”

Banks is confident Penn State is where he can get the most out of his talent.

“I officially visited Penn State in late January,” Banks said. “Just speaking to the coaches — it was different. I have a great relationship with (Penn State linebackers) Coach (Tyson) Veidt. He came into our school actually right after I got the opportunity and sat down with me for about an hour. He talked about his plan for success. He talked about who he was and what the plan was moving forward. It was something that was tough to turn down.”

Banks could have received financial aid and had an opportunity to play in meaningful games this fall, but he decided to dream big.

“I had some great offers that were really tough to turn down,” Banks said. “I had some tough conversations with some coaches in January. I had some opportunities where I wasn’t going to be paying anything and coming into situations where I would be in the mix right away. That was tough to turn down. It has been a constant dream of mine to play for a big school, especially playing for Penn State as a linebacker — that’s something that’s pretty cool. I was willing to start over and work my way back up the ladder.”