Zach by nature, ‘Incredible Hulk’ by kickoff

Many fans keenly look forward to USC gameday each week, but their experience is one far removed from that of the players leading up to kickoff.

For redshirt junior offensive lineman Zach Banner, the contrast could not be any more pronounced.

Unlike many students on game days — who often aim to overlap with as many friends as possible before kickoff — Banner completely shuts himself off from the outside world, switching his phone onto “airplane mode” and using the device solely for music.

Before he does that, though, Banner places two calls: one to home to talk with his parents and another to his uncle, who resides in Texas.

“Calling my parents and my Uncle Mark in the morning when I wake up helps get me in the mindset that I am playing for my family, not just myself,” Banner said. “After that, I put my phone on airplane mode and cut the rest of the world off. It’s all about football from that point forward.”

For someone who proudly likens himself to the Incredible Hulk — not only because he shares a last name with the fictional Marvel Comics scientist-turned-big-green-fighting-machine Bruce Banner, but also because of his towering 6-foot-9, 357-pound build and forceful, overpowering plays in the football trenches — Zach’s weekly withdrawal serves very much as a comic-like foreshadowing. The extreme focus and relative silence before games preface the moment in which Banner will storm out of the Coliseum tunnel and, much like Bruce Banner, begin to activate his “beast contained within.”

The intensity and grit with which Banner approaches the game of football derives from an inner drive to be the best offensive lineman in the country and an understanding that his success in reaching that goal will come not from the size of the dog in the fight, but from the amount of fight in the dog.

“It’s all about what’s on the inside,” Banner said of why he has been successful as a football player. “It’s about the will to be the best, the will to be great. Ignore the size — that’s automatic, a given. It’s about having the need and the desire to have a great career — not just a good career —  and the understanding that I have to work hard for it. It’s not going to just come easy.”

While Banner’s pregame preparation necessitates the removal of non-football related interactions in order to fully focus his mind and body, he is also well-known for his Hulk-sized kindness and infectiously magnetic personality on days not beginning with the word “game.”

Often seen sharing a laugh or conversing with students, coaches and faculty, it is little surprise that down the road — whenever it comes time to hang up the pads for the final time — Zach hopes to use his charismatic gifts to pursue a career on-screen.

“After football, I really want to go into broadcast journalism,” Banner said. “I have a passion to stay around sports and to create a good character for myself on camera. I idolize the things that Shaquille O’Neal is doing in basketball and would love to do that for the sport of football.”

Widely considered to be a strong NFL prospect, it may be a while until Banner uses his on-screen talents to pursue an off-field career. However, his willingness to use his voice is one that is already paying dividends for him in a big way.

“Being so vocal makes it easy to build relationships,” Banner said. “I think that’s why people trust me and want to work with me. They know that I’m both a fun guy but also that I’m going to work hard.”

On the practice field, Banner can be audibly heard along the offensive line communicating play calls, helping raise the level of intensity and mentoring some of the less-experienced underclassmen.

His verbal leadership has been especially welcome over the last few months during a coaching transition in which former Oklahoma State and 20-year coaching veteran Bob Connelly was brought in to replace former USC offensive line coach and current Michigan offensive coordinator Tim Drevno.

In a situation that could have set the Trojan offensive line back a few steps heading into a season widely hoped to be “the return of dominant USC football,” Connelly has instead helped revitalize the O-Line unit, pushing it in a positive direction.

Much of that, Banner said, is due to the way in which Connelly interacts with players, which channels the way in which he himself tries to interact with others.

“He’s the best offensive line coach I’ve ever had, and I mean that,” Banner said. “He not only knows his stuff in terms of the X’s and O’s, but he also knows how to build relationships, just like I try to do. He knows how to care about you on and off the field.”

It certainly helps that the group of guys Connelly inherited — Banner included — feature a mix of both young and experienced talent who possess a determination to improve.

“We’ve got a great leader and four-year player in Max Tuerk, and two guys who came in at the same time as him, but redshirted like myself and Chad Wheeler,” Banner said. “Max is the best center in the country, and Chad and I have a hunger to be just as good as he is and be the best in the country at our respective positions — left and right tackle.”

Banner’s confidence in the offensive line is reflective of a broader sentiment permeating through the USC football team this year. Despite the hype, media spotlight and inflated expectations that come with being a premier sports program at a top collegiate institution — and one that happens to reside in the second largest city and TV market in the country — Banner feels that the team is successfully blocking out potential distractions and instead focusing on themselves.

He attributes this to strong parity between players and coaches in moving toward their goal to win the Pac-12 championship for the first time since 2008 and subsequently earn a berth in the College Football Playoff. At the core of this quest, Banner said, is a team-wide understanding and mindset that they are playing for something bigger than individual success,

“Hopefully, we will have a ring to show for what we have done,” he said. “But ultimately, we are a great university with a great tradition, not a school full of individuals.”

And for his team, when the pads are put on and the lights are switched on, the Zach Banner that many know and love transforms. And when that happens, no one is safe.

“I become the Incredible Hulk,” Banner says. “Everyone dies. Hulk smash.”