July 18, 2008
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State head football coach Denver Johnson announced the addition of junior college linebacker Keauntee (kee-ON-tay) Bankhead to the 2008 Redbird roster. Bankhead will have two years of eligibility remaining with the Redbirds after transferring from Arizona Western Community College.
"Coming out of spring practice we felt like we weren't quite where we needed to be defensively," said Johnson. "Keauntee is a defender. I'm not exactly sure where he is going to play, if he's going to be a linebacker or a secondary player. He's played both, and I think he is an outstanding defender. He'll certainly add strength and depth to our defensive football team."
Bankhead was the consensus player of the year in the state of Washington during his senior season at Ballard High School. In his final season, he posted 79 tackles, including 66 solo stops, 10 tackles-for-loss and five sacks. Offensively, he also racked up 2,459 all-purpose yards with 27 touchdowns. Bankhead owns the state of Washington record with 22 catches in the game against Monroe High School during his senior year.
As a prep senior, Bankhead was a first-team KingCo 4A offense, defense and special teams player, as well as the league's defensive player of the year. He was named the 2003 Seattle Times Player of the Year and was a member of the paper's defensive squad and all-state team.
The 6-foot, 220-pound linebacker originally signed with Washington out of high school, but never attended the institution. He began his college career at Dixie State. The Seattle native was named first-team all-league in 2005, after ranking second on the team in tackles with 66 stops, including 43 solo and 9.5 tackles-for-loss. He also notched one quarterback sack, five interceptions, five pass breakups and three fumble recoveries.
After a redshirt season at Central Washington in 2006, Bankhead played in two games last season at Arizona Western Community College.
