Steve Milton: 111 games in a Ticat uniform, but not this one for Brandon — ‘Speedy’ — Banks

There was a short preview in Guelph in June, but that was an exhibition game with hardly anyone there. And it's next Friday at Tim Hortons Field when the full impact will drop on Hamilton fans like a plummeting anvil smacking Wile E. Coyote.

Still, how unnatural will it feel in Toronto Saturday night when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats hit the playing field and Brandon - trade name Speedy' - Banks is there wearing No. 16, but in Argo colours? Double blue is to Ticats Crazies what red is to a bull and here is Hamilton's all-time career return leader, second-leading touchdown scorer, and fifth-highest reception leader, dressed head to toe in the same uniform he has deked right off so many Argos' bodies?

Banks played 111, mostly dynamic, regular-season games for Hamilton from 2013 to 2021. A full 20 of those were against Hamilton's historic, geographic and symbolic archrivals but this will be the first against the Ticats.

I'll be honest, it's going to be weird. You know how much I love the players and the fans there and how much respect I have for the organization," Banks told The Spectator. When I go to the locker-room at Tim Hortons Field next week, that's when I'm going to feel, Man I'm really on the other side', but it's going to feel odd on Saturday, too."

Banks is one of the most, if not the most, entertaining players to ever spend extended time in a Ticat uniform. He personified potential, a sinewy threat to do something unique every time a pass or a kick went airborne in his general direction. A small, but tough, maestro of creating excited anticipation.

When June Jones transferred him from mainly special teams to mainly receiver and stuck Jeremiah Masoli on the other end, there was no other pass-catch tandem in the CFL quite like it for at least two years. In 2018-19 he had 24 touchdown receptions in 30 games. He was the runaway winner of the league's Most Outstanding Player Award in 2019, the best regular-season in Hamilton history.

Consider this. At their current touchdown rate it would take the entire Ticats team - offence, defence and special teams - deep into 2024 to match the 65 majors Banks scored in his time here.

Injuries, age (34), and the long pandemic layoff may have slowed him a step, maybe two, but he's fully healthy and still leads the Argos with three touchdowns, one more than he had last year with the Ticats who decided last winter to part ways with their signature 21st Century receiver.

Speedy was a focal point of this organization for a long time," Hamilton head coach Orlondo Steinauer says. A future Hall of Famer. I've got a lot of love for him as a person, and what he does on the field speaks for itself. He can still score from anywhere on the field and they're using him in the return game. We'll have our hands full."

The Argos have a talented and deep receiving corps and with the return of Eric Rogers and DaVaris Daniels from injury, Banks is listed on Saturday's depth chart as a backup, not a starter. But that's just for the first play. Expect him to play in several spots throughout the game, especially if Toronto falls behind.

A guy like Speedy, he's always capable of making a home run play," says Ticat cornerback Jumal Rolle, who'll have to cover him at times, like he did so often during practice. We have to be aware of where he is at all times and respect what he brings to the game."

Banks has often played out of his most comfortable location, lining up on the short side of the field when he was at his best in Hamilton on the wide side. He is the first to point out that he's missed some balls this season that he could have hauled in.

I'm not catching the ball as well as I want to right now," he says. Why? I don't know. Me and Mac (quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson) have miscommunicated a bit. It's mainly me. Any time it's in my hands I've gotta catch it. It's just me thinking too much, second-guessing myself if I'm running the right route, making the right read."

He asked the Argos for more return action and has fielded five punts the past two games. He lost big yardage late in Toronto's loss to Ottawa on the weekend, just trying to make something, anything, happen for a team which was tripping all over itself. But, the week before, he had a terrific 35-yard return against Saskatchewan.

That brought that old feeling back," he said.

Banks says he's healthy and enjoying the game again after losing some of his taste for it in a difficult 2021 season. Much of his personal unhappiness was due to injuries, and he won't say anything more than that about it.

I just want to show that I can still play football," he says of meeting the Ticats four times in the next five weeks. I think some people in (Ticat) management had some doubts, didn't think I could play any more.

But I've got nothing but love for everybody over there and I'm not going out there to try to prove a point, or show anybody up, I'm just going out there to feel happy about playing especially against guys I've gone against in practice for so long.

I'm over any sadness I had about not being in Hamilton. Who wouldn't want to finish their career in an organization like that? I didn't want to leave there without giving the fans, management, the city, Scott Mitchell and the other executives a Grey Cup. That organization really deserves it.

That's the only thing I regret."

Steve Milton is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: smilton@thespec.com