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Cornerback Sevyn Banks leaves LSU, declares for NFL Draft

On3 imageby: Matthew Brune02/27/23MatthewBrune_

The LSU cornerback room received one final shakeup before the spring season, as Sevyn Banks will be heading to the 2023 NFL Draft instead of returning to LSU for his final season, as first reported by The Advocate.

Banks never publicly made an announcement, but the deadline to declare for the draft was Jan. 16, meaning he made the decision and made LSU aware before that date. The former Ohio State standout in 2020 had a rocky 2021 season after a knee injury, then transferred to LSU for the 2022 season hoping to show that he still had what it took to be an NFL-caliber cornerback.

After a promising offseason, his 2022 season was marred with injuries, missing the first three games, then suffering a bruised spinal cord on the opening kickoff of the game against Auburn in week five, sidelining him for the remainder of the season.

Out of high school, Banks was a four-star prospect and a top 30 cornerback in the class with plenty of physical upside with the speed and 6-foot-1 frame. His 2020 season had him hyped as one of the top cornerbacks in the country entering 2021 and on Mock Draft boards for 2022, but the production fell off significantly and he was never able to get back to that level.

Another hit to LSU’s cornerback room

Banks joins Mekhi Garner, Jarrick Bernard-Converse, and Jay Ward as players leaving LSU looking to find a home in the NFL. As a result, the Tigers cornerback room is completely overturned once again. Of the eight boundary corners from the 2022 roster, only one remains in sophomore Laterrance Welch. 

LSU added several high-level transfers in Denver Harris, Zy Alexander, JK Johnson and Duce Chestnut who will compete to play significant snaps. In addition, there are a handful of incoming freshmen who will fill out the back-end of the roster. Still it’s another season where LSU had to restock the room and piece it together over the offseason. The depth of the secondary as a whole is something to watch for over the coming months of spring ball as defensive coordinator Matt House assesses what he has to work with and if there’s anything he’s looking to add over the summer.