Freddie Banks serves as Colorado State’s defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach, a post he assumed in January 2022 as a part of Jay Norvell’s initial coaching staff.

Banks arrived in Fort Collins fresh off leading the No. 6 scoring defense in the FCS to the national championship game while in the same role at Montana State. It was the Bobcats first appearance in the FCS national championship game since 1984.

Colorado State’s defense showed improvement in Banks’ first season, trimming nearly 80 yards of total offense allowed from the first half to the second half and scoring by more than 11 points. The unit posted a shutout for the first time since 2016 when the Rams blanked New Mexico on the final weekend, and the unit generated at least one turnover a game after the opener, including a streak of six consecutive games with an interception. In a win over Nevada, the defense produced the Rams’ only two touchdowns of the game on an interception return by Ayden Hector and a fumble return by Mukendi Wa-Kalonji. Sophomore safety Jack Howell was named first-team All-Mountain West after leading the team with 108 tackles and tying for the team lead with three interceptions. Defensive end Mohamed Kamara earned second-team All-MW honors ,with CJ Onyechi, Dequan Jackson and Chigozie Anusiem named honorable mention. Defensive tackle Grady Kelly was named a PFF Freshman All-American.

Under his tutelage, the Bobcats defense allowed just 10 or fewer points in seven of 15 games in 2021. The unit allowed just 15.0 points per game and 310.1 yards of total offense, the 14th-best mark in the FCS. The Bobcats collected 42 sacks (12th) and generated 24 turnovers (17th), including 18 interceptions (4th) on the season.

The Bobcats were also stingy in the red zone, posting the No. 18 ranked red zone defense in the country.

Montana State linebacker Troy Andersen was named a first team All-American as well as the FCS Defensive Player of the Year by Phil Steele, and defensive lineman Daniel Hardy earned first team All-American honors by the same outlet. Andersen was also named the Big Sky Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year while six other Bobcats picked up All-Big Sky honors.

Joining the Colorado State staff is a reunion for Banks and Norvell as the defensive coordinator spent one year under at Nevada as the Wolf Pack’s cornerbacks coach.

Banks played at Mercyhurst in 2007 before transferring to North Dakota State, where he finished out his career, his coaching career started a year later at Minnesota State-Moorhead. In just two seasons, he became the defensive coordinator there before moving to Nicholls to coach cornerbacks from 2013-14. He then spent one season as a high school coach in Louisiana before returning to the college ranks at Midwestern State, where he coached the secondary from 2016-18, then spent the 2019 seasons as the cornerbacks coach at Stephen F. Austin.