1. Zach Banner played tackle in college football for the USC Trojans, where he was a two-time All-American and first-team All-Pac-12.
45 Facts About Zach Banner
1. 2.
Zach Banner was a member of the Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers.
3.
Zach Banner is a native of Tacoma, Washington, where he grew up on the East Side, and has lived in Puyallup, Washington He is the biological son of former National Football League Pro Bowl offensive tackle and College Football Hall of Famer Lincoln Kennedy, who had dated his mother but never married her.
4.
Zach Banner's mother, Vanessa, is Chamorro, was born in Fort Lewis, Washington, and works as a middle school administrator.
5.
Zach Banner had no idea who Lincoln Kennedy was, or that he was his real father, until he was a seventh grader.
6.
Zach Banner's younger brother, Xavier, played football at Eastern Washington University as a linebacker, and his sister, Mia, is a high school soccer goalie.
7.
Zach Banner attended Lakes High School, where he was a two-time football All-American offensive lineman on the Lancers football team, and played two seasons at left tackle.
8.
Zach Banner was named the Lancers' Most Inspirational Player when he was a freshman, and still a bench player.
9.
Zach Banner was a finalist for the 2012 Watkins Award, by the National Alliance of African American Athletes, honoring the top African-American student athlete in the nation.
10.
Zach Banner was rated the 16th-best prospect in the country by Rivals.
11.
Zach Banner played center in basketball for Lakes High School, averaging 18.6 points and 17.3 rebounds, while guiding Lakes to the 2011 Washington State Class 3A championship in his junior year.
12.
Zach Banner was the Lakes class president, logged 373 community service hours, and had a 3.6 grade point average.
13.
Zach Banner played tackle at both positions in college football for the USC Trojans football team from 2013 to 2016 under head coaches Steve Sarkisian and Clay Helton.
14.
Zach Banner played 39 games, and started 37 of them.
15.
Zach Banner played only two games during his red-shirted freshman 2013 season, as the back-up offensive tackle against Hawaii and Boston College, before being ruled out for the season due to an injury to both hips that required two hip surgeries.
16.
Zach Banner had been born with a condition known as femoroacetabular impingement that involved extra bone growth on his hips, that prevented him from squatting past 90 degrees, and had corrective hip surgery to address the problem.
17.
In 2014 as a sophomore Zach Banner played every game at right tackle and was College Football News Sophomore All-American honorable mention.
18.
Zach Banner started all 14 games and his main position was at right tackle, but he started two games at left tackle during his junior year against Utah and Wisconsin.
19.
Zach Banner played in the Senior Bowl in January 2017.
20.
Zach Banner played basketball for USC in 2013, but did not see any playing time.
21.
Zach Banner joined the historically Jewish, fraternity Zeta Beta Tau, whose members reflected a broad range of ethnicities and races, and majored in Sociology.
22.
Zach Banner was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL draft.
23.
Zach Banner became the first Chamorro selected in an NFL draft.
24.
Zach Banner was the tallest lineman drafted since Maryland's Jared Gaither in 2007.
25.
Zach Banner was easily the biggest lineman on the Colts' roster.
26.
However, one day later, after other waived players from other teams became available, on September 3,2017, Zach Banner was waived by the Colts.
27.
On September 4,2017, less than 24 hours after he was waived, Zach Banner was claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Browns.
28.
Zach Banner played in Cleveland's last 8 games, taking a combined 27 snaps on offense and 18 snaps on special teams.
29.
On March 16,2018, Zach Banner was claimed off waivers by the Carolina Panthers.
30.
Zach Banner was waived by the Panthers on May 31,2018.
31.
Zach Banner was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers on August 12,2018.
32.
Zach Banner had 24 pass protection reps, during which he did not allow a single pressure, quarterback sack, hurry, or quarterback hit.
33.
Zach Banner became a cult hero who was featured in viral videos showing the team's largest player running downfield and flattening linebackers and defensive backs who got in his way, known to many fans as "No 72" because he would be announced as "No 72 is reporting as eligible" at home games, which was met with increasingly loud cheers and ovations throughout the season.
34.
Zach Banner re-signed with the Steelers for a one-year, $1.75 million contract on March 18,2020.
35.
Zach Banner has a chance to be an excellent tackle if he keeps working at it.
36.
Zach Banner suffered a torn ACL in Week 1 and was placed on season-ending injured reserve on September 16,2020.
37.
On March 18,2021, Zach Banner signed a two-year contract with the Steelers.
38.
Zach Banner was placed on injured reserve on September 1,2021.
39.
On March 16,2022, Zach Banner was released by the Steelers.
40.
On March 6,2025, Zach Banner signed with the Houston Roughnecks of the United Football League.
41.
Zach Banner is married to Alexandra Zach Banner, the lead writer for CNN's daily morning newsletter, 5 Things.
42.
Zach Banner posted an emotional video in response to an anti-Semitic Instagram post by fellow NFL player DeSean Jackson on Twitter, becoming one of the first NFL players to speak out on the issue.
43.
Zach Banner received a great deal of praise for speaking out in the video, which has been viewed more than 790,000 times.
44.
Zach Banner was a member of Zeta Beta Tau, a historically Jewish fraternity, and credits his fraternity brothers with sharing their families' experiences as part of his learning about the Jewish community.
45.
Zach Banner's words gained traction on social media, and he received messages from people who felt the impact of his words on a personal level, sharing that his message made them cry.