Nebraska’s Jahmal Banks used his family problems to find purpose

LINCOLN, Neb. — For her first night on the streets, Jahmal Banks’ mother chose a family from their supportive community for him to live with. Kristie Martin was evicted from her Maryland home and begged him to leave her. It would be temporary, she said.

She promised Jahmal, a student at the private Landon School in Bethesda, that she would see him every day. She wanted to make sure his clothes were pressed before Jahmal walked into the classroom each morning 12 years ago. She wanted to know that he would eat dinner each night and that he would have access to a table suitable for homework.

He said no.

“I told my mother, ‘I’ll go with you wherever you go,’” Jahmal said.

He told her he wished he could feel her pain and take it away.

Kristie, Jahmal and his two young sisters, Jasmin and Zuri, were left homeless after Kristie divorced Jahmal’s stepfather. The marriage fell apart under unhealthy circumstances, she said.

“It was spiritual, monetary, emotional and psychological,” Kristie said. “I didn’t get black eyes or teeth knocked out. If you get hit, it can heal. Three years after that divorce, I shut myself off from the world. What kept me going were my children. They are my joy. They are my four heartbeats.

“I lost everything. But I chose my children.”

Kristie’s oldest, Kyerra Martin, was attending Bowie State in Maryland on an athletic scholarship at the time, where they played volleyball and softball. The rest of them sat in Kristie’s Chevy Tahoe that awful day as she cried for 30 minutes.

Kristie said she had three months of mortgage payments in the bank before her divorce. As a longtime paramedic, she was decorated for her skills in dealing with trauma.

But at that moment, Kristie said, she lost herself.

“I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “I lost control. I was so organized. I never thought I would have to taste bread and not know where to put my head.”

The first night, a friend took them in. In the months that followed, Kristie and her three children moved between hotels and a shelter in Washington, D.C. They witnessed the aftermath of a murder. She lost her day job, Kristie said, to work at Safeway and Macy’s so she could accommodate the children’s schedules from a displaced home.

Kristie said she sometimes had to choose between buying gas and food.

Perseverance, she said, got Kristie back on her feet.

“God put certain people around us at certain times,” she said. “But it was a fight every day. I found strength that I didn’t know I had.”

During that period, Kristie and her children also saw the best in people. People who offered them a place to sleep. Or unexpectedly bought them a meal in a restaurant.

It was Jahmal, who turns 23 next month. In his first season as a wide receiver at Nebraska, he’s fitting in as a team leader and one of freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola’s top targets. Banks, a transfer from Wake Forest who caught 101 passes in the ACC over the past two years, was the only offensive player at Nebraska in August to earn a single-digit jersey — awarded by a vote of players to their top 10 teammates.

“Tough” isn’t the right description for him.

“Jahmal is an anomaly,” Kristie Martin said. “Not because he’s my son. You don’t come across a kid like that every 15 to 20 years. He’s been through so much — and without a father. We’ve beaten so many stats. And the fact that he’s as academically and athletically focused as he is, it gives me strength.”

Kristie Martin (left) attended every one of Jahmal Banks’ (right) games at Nebraska this season. (Photo courtesy of Kristie Martin)

You won’t get a Banks argument from Matt Rhule. After Rhule’s first team at Nebraska finished 5-7 and lost several key players, the coach devised a plan to build on the backs of departed leaders.

He hoped his second team would pick up where the first group left off and set a new standard in the off-season. But Rhule didn’t expect a newcomer to come in and raise the bar.

Banks led by example in training, but his biggest impact came outside of practice and the weight room.

“He’s one of the first guys I’ve ever seen — as some of the guys say — but he’s here to impact other people,” Rhule said. “There’s not a day that I’m not blown away by his impact on people.

“He’s a wonderful, wonderful person.”

Banks led Nebraska players in offseason community hours, a number that is tracked and rewarded with points to create a competitive environment within the team. He scored more in a single offseason than any player Rhule has coached at Temple, Baylor or Nebraska.

“He came here to help change our culture,” Rhule said.

It’s not just that Banks wanted to change the Huskers, he said. This is who he is.

Even for actions that don’t earn him points and might go unnoticed by teammates and coaches, Banks goes all out. Recently, he bought the food ordered by a group of people behind him in line at Chipotle.

Why?

Jahmal said he kept his feelings to himself when his mother and sisters were in pain.

“He wanted to make sure we were okay,” his sister Kyerra said. “That was just Jahmal.”

An inner struggle arose for him.

“At the end of the day, I had to face myself and my issues,” he said. “On top of that, I developed a purpose to make an impact in the world — I just wanted to do more for my family, I wanted to be someone they could count on to be there for them and take care of them.”

Jahmal said he found his purpose and the key to his identity at First Baptist Church in northwest Washington, D.C. There, he developed a spirit of generosity that extends beyond his family.

It shines through in his first season at Nebraska, like when he buys food for unsuspecting strangers.

When given the opportunity to help people, Banks doesn’t hesitate to share the difficult moments from his childhood.

“My son gives so much,” said Kristie Martin.

He caught a 21-yard touchdown pass in the first half of his Nebraska debut, and has since gone quiet, catching seven balls for 76 yards in three games.

But the Huskers are 3-0 and ranked 22nd heading into Friday night’s game against Illinois, both programs’ season opener in the Big Ten.

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“It’s perfect,” he said, “because I’m process-driven, not results-driven. I make it all about us. I just keep enjoying the journey. It’s a fight all the time, but you just have to fall in love with the process.”

Jahmal Banks transferred from Wake Forest to Nebraska during the offseason. (Photo courtesy of Nebraska Athletics)

Jahmal played trumpet for many years and participated in lacrosse, basketball and football. He emerged as an elite talent on the field at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia. Banks transferred to St. Frances Academy in Baltimore to compete against the best national competition.

The Ivy League offers were pouring in. His mother wanted him to go to Penn. Jahmal was drawn to the lights of big conference programs.

“For her, it wasn’t the four-year plan,” Banks said. “It was the 40-year plan.”

They found a compromise in Wake Forest, a smaller, private school in a major conference. He was looking for a change after last season and expressed concern to Kristie that “there was no guarantee” when he looked at Nebraska, Wisconsin and Purdue.

“You are the guarantee,” Kristie told Jahmal.

When Kristie met Rhule during their visit to Lincoln last winter, she said she felt “the passion” in him.

“Oh, my God, it was so different,” she said. “I knew this was where he was supposed to be. I felt like (Rhule) was saying what he meant and he was going to show me.”

Jahmal had no intention of doubting his mother at that time.

“She gave, saved, changed my life,” Jahmal said. “You can look back and in another timeline, Jahmal isn’t there. But in the timeline that was supposed to happen, he’s there because of what she sacrificed.”

He has written, performed and released music about his life experiences.

He often thinks about the turbulent path his family has taken.

“That’s in my head,” Jahmal said. “I think about my sisters. I look back and what I really want is not about money. It’s not about fame. It’s about healing.”

Kristie has attended all three of the Huskers’ games at Memorial Stadium. She is back working in the medical field and will miss Friday’s game this week. She will attend the rest of the games, along with several family members.

Meanwhile, Kyerra coaches volleyball at DuVal High School in Lanham, Maryland, and plays football for the DC Divas as part of the Women’s Football Alliance.

She said Jahmal inspired her to take up the sport.

Jasmin goes to Maryland to study law. Zuri, in high school, wants to be a veterinarian.

“I told Jahmal that he is my role model,” Kyerra said. “There is a lot going on in this world, but it is ingrained in us to help others in need. Jahmal is always the one who thinks before the thought comes out.”

(Top photo courtesy of Nebraska Athletics)