NFL Draft: 49ers Pick Notre Dame OL, Alameda Product Aaron Banks in 2nd Round
SANTA CLARA (CBS SF) -- The San Francisco 49ers selected up a Bay Area standout with their second pick in the NFL Draft Friday, choosing All-American Notre Dame offensive guard Aaron Banks.
Banks was the 48th player selected in the 2021 NFL Draft. The Notre Dame senior is a substantial 6'5" tall and tips the scale at 330 pounds. Raised in his hometown of Alameda, Banks attended El Cerrito High School.
After announcing the pick, the 49ers posted video of the phone call where team GM John Lynch told Banks that the team had selected him to a raucous reaction from his family.
After a standout career at El Cerrito High anchoring the offensive line for a team that reached the second round of the 2016 CIF-North Coast Section Division 3 playoffs, in 2017 Banks became one of the top offensive line prospects in Northern California.
Earning a football scholarship at Notre Dame, Banks would play in all 13 games his sophomore year, starting in six games.
Last year in his senior season, Banks helped the Fighting Irish to a 10-2 season, going 9-0 in the regular season and only losing to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game and eventual national champions Alabama in the Rose Bowl.
Banks was named to the AFCA and Associated Press All-America First Teams and the ESPN All-America Team in addition to a number of other honors.
