South Carolina · L 0-57
No catches.
Western Michigan · L 7-38
No catches.
Sacramento State · L 10-31
No catches.
Banks has catches in 6 of Kent State’s 9 games: none against South Carolina, Western Michigan and Sacramento State.
Dashed line: 100 yards.
Ardell Banks
Played for two head coaches in three seasons at Kent State. One game to point at: 60 receiving yards and 2 receptions against Ohio — Week 5, 2026.
224 receiving yards · 12 catches · 0 receiving TD
Play style
Moves the chains on third down.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
Against Akron on Oct. 24: 3 catches for 18 yards. In the 6 games drawn here: 12 catches for 224 yards. Kent State has thrown to him 24 times in 175 passes.
Each game is split into its four quarters, so the columns line up from game to game; inside a quarter, plays keep their order. Third and fourth downs are marked under the line, bold when he moved the chains.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Kent State | 12 | 224 | 18.7 | 0 | 47 |
| 2025 | Kent State | 12 | 205 | 17.1 | 2 | 38 |
| 2024 | Kent State | 2 | 20 | 10.0 | 0 | 13 |
| Career | 26 | 449 | 17.3 | 2 | 47 |
| Season | Team | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Kent State | -- | -- |
| 2025 | Kent State | 5 | -- |
| 2024 | Kent State | -- | 2 |
| Career | 5 | 2 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 6 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 2 | W 36-15vs Wofford | 2 | 36 | 18.0 | 0 | 30 | |
| Wk 3 | L 3-59@ No. 6 Ohio State | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 0 | 13 | |
| Wk 4 | W 26-13vs Ball State | 2 | 58 | 29.0 | 0 | 33 | |
| Wk 5 | L 10-13vs Ohio | 2 | 60 | 30.0 | 0 | 47 | Season-high 60 yds |
| Wk 7 | L 2-29@ South Florida | 2 | 39 | 19.5 | 0 | 22 | |
| Wk 8 | W 35-20vs Akron | 3 | 18 | 6.0 | 0 | 11 | |
| Total | 12 | 224 | 18.7 | 0 | 47 |
Week 5 · 2026
L 10-13
vs Ohio
2 rec · 60 yds
With D. DeShields — 217 yds · 0 TD · 2 INT · QBR 23.1 · J. Stoeckel — 43.5 yards per punt · 2 punts · 1 inside the 20
The plays that mattered most
387th in receiving yards, among all 2,086 FBS players with a receiving row this season, any position
Ratings of the games shown run from -29 to +29 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).
Receiver profile · Targets, catch rate, and throw depth
How often he's targeted, and how well it works
Targets
2610% of team targetsCatch rate
46%12 of 26 targetsShort · 0–9 air yds
Middle · 10–19 air yds
Deep · 20+ air yds
46% catch rate on 26 targets · 10% of the team's targets · 50% catch rate on 8 deep targets (20+ air yds).
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 6 games
Home vs Road
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home4g | 2.2 | 43.0 | 20.8 | 0.0 |
| Road2g | 1.5 | 26.0 | 16.2 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 1.8 | 41.2 | 21.9 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+1g | 3.0 | 18.0 | 6.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Mark Carney
Pass share
48.2%
271 pass / 291 run
Plays / game
62.4
9 games
Team sack rate
4.8%
310 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2026
Fewer catches a game than most FBS receivers who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #377 at the position.
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-MAC
Based on 2025: #33 of 38 Mid-American WRs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).
2026 is in progress.
Coaching lineage · 2023–2026
3 coachesPlayed for 3 head coaches at 2 schools: Mark Stoops, Kenni Burns and Mark Carney.
