Before being named one of the top prospects in the 2022 NBA Draft, before the Final Four run as a freshman at Duke, before the McDonald's All-American high school basketball career, Paolo Banchero was one of the best youth quarterbacks in the state of Washington.
Basketball and football are in Banchero's blood. His mother, Rhonda, was a college basketball standout at the University of Washington. After leaving as the school's all-time leading scorer, she was selected in the third round of the 2000 WNBA Draft. His father, Mario, met Rhonda while playing as a tight end for the Huskies football team.
Those athletic genes made Banchero not only a standout basketball player, but also a freshman quarterback that helped O'Dea High School win the state championship back in 2017. He dropped football after that season, deciding to focus on basketball full-time. Had he chosen differently, he could have been a top college quarterback.
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The evidence is publicly available. Banchero's middle school and high school football highlights are all available on Hudl, a site that allows athletes to share highlights, stats and scores with recruiters, friends and family. His football profile was created in 2014, just a month after he turned 12 years old.
Even as a middle schooler, Banchero's talent on the field was obvious. His first Hudl video shows a seventh-grader throwing bombs under a light flurry of Seattle snow, outrunning entire defenses and dodging tackles like a pint-sized Barry Sanders.
Owen Prentice, currently an offensive lineman at the University of Washington, played alongside Banchero in middle school and high school. From a young age, they competed against some of the best talent in the country.
"Snoop Dogg had a youth little league team, which he still does now. We played them, did all that," Prentice said. "There was a regular little league season, and then what's called FBU, which is a select team for state.
"There's a tournament, and it narrowed down to the Final Four in Florida. I was on that team with Paolo, J.T. Tuimoloau, who in my class was the No. 1 football player and a standout basketball player, tons of future D-1 athletes. As far as quarterbacks, he was right there at the top with the rest of the guys in the country."
Monte Kohler is a legend in the Washington high school football community. He's been coaching at O'Dea High School since 1985, winning four state championships.
Kohler has seen numerous NFL players pass through the hallways of O'Dea, including Demetrius Dubose, Ray Hall, Taylor Mays, Nate Burleson and Myles Gaskin. He knows professional talent when he sees it. He believes that Banchero was among the best that he's coached.
"Paolo was on that level, for sure," Kohler said.
Kohler believes that if Banchero had kept up with football, not only would he have been a five-star college recruit, he also would have been a shoo-in for the NFL.
"I think he would have been a first-round draft choice. There's no doubt," Kohler said. "He's put together. He's, whatever, 6-10, 250 [pounds]. It's not like he's a skinny basketball player. He's an athlete."
Ref said “There’s no way you’re a freshman 14”😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/1K9qMpLvoC
— Paolo Banchero🇮🇹 (@Pp_doesit) October 15, 2017
Prentice agreed that Banchero had potential, but he wasn't quite ready to go that far.
"I'd say it's a very bold statement. It's not totally out there, but I don't know if I'm ready to make those claims," Prentice said. "He definitely had that potential, and I can see why coach Kohler is saying that. It doesn't surprise me. But from someone who is playing football, realistically, it's hard to say."
Prenticed paused for a moment before adding, "It is believable that if he stuck with football, he could have had a shot at the NFL."
"He was always so much taller and faster and more athletic than everyone. He always had really good arm talent. He was better than just size and speed," Prentice said. "He was a great football player. He definitely could have gone far in football."
Coach Kohler had never let freshmen play on O'Dea's varsity football team prior to 2017. But the talent of that class, led by Prentice and Banchero, forced him to change his policy.
"Freshmen can be physically ready but not mentally ready," Kohler said. "Those kids were different. They were special. They had seen the big lights, and nothing phased them.
"They were really good. They played a national championship game [in middle school], a bunch of D-1 kids."
Banchero split duties with a junior quarterback named Emonte Scott, earning more snaps as the season progressed.
"Even as a freshman, he was the best player on the football field, the best athlete," Kohler said. "Maybe back then, he was 6-7, 220 [pounds], the fastest kid on the field. There were a few runs and throws he made as a freshman that was like, 'Wow, this is pretty amazing.'
"He went to summer camp with us and wasn't that confident at that point, but by midseason, he knew, 'I belong. I can do this. Give me the ball.'"
Kohler's O'Dea teams featured a run-heavy offense, which made use of Banchero's speed. Banchero listed a 40-yard dash time of 4.82 seconds on his Hudl profile, which is a tick slower than the 4.80 time that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes recorded at the NFL Combine.
It didn't take long for Kohler to see how much faster Banchero was than anyone else.
"He took the ball, avoided the sack and took off running. He outran everyone on the field for a 30-yard touchdown," Kohler said. "I realized he was the fastest kid on the field. He had that extra gear."
That speed was even more apparent in Banchero's middle school games.
"There was one game in Utah. We turned over the ball at their 20-yard line. Some guy picked it up, probably had 20 yards on Paolo," Kohler said. "He chased him back to our 2- or 1-yard line and saved a touchdown. Before he got that crazy growth spurt, he was one of the fastest guys around."
Banchero wasn't just a runner. He could throw it, too. In his 10 games at O'Dea, he completed 15-of-36 passes for 191 yards, three passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and one interception.
"There were a couple of throws he made that were special as well where he scrambled, came back and threw a touchdown the other way," Kohler said. "He could spin it — crazy. He was accurate. He used to work out with a quarterback coach. He was a football player. They would work out a couple times a week. It wasn't foreign to him.
"His mechanics, he'd be a professional quarterback. That's how good he was. How he handled himself, how he moved in the pocket, his ability, there's no doubt about it."
Just sent out the correction, thanks for letting us know! I've attached here, too! pic.twitter.com/Yvd9xBHTTr
— KING 5 Sports (@KING5Sports) October 19, 2017
"It was good to use him in the play action game, get him to roll out," Prentice said. "He could read the field and throw it. He had a very strong and accurate arm. He still does. He would play flag football in high school, and he still had it."
After winning the state championship in 2017, Banchero decided to leave the game that he had started playing as a six-year-old. His football coaches and teammates still tried to get him back on the field.
"I knew it was inevitable. I thought he was going to play one more year. Freshman year coming into sophomore year, he was becoming a national name [in basketball]," Kohler said.
"I tried to get him to come back out his senior year as a third down quarterback. If he didn’t like what was out there, he could just take a knee so he wouldn't ever get hit. Because he could throw, he was a freak the way he threw the ball."
Prentice recalls Banchero struggling with the decision to choose basketball over football.
"I'd say it was very close. I wasn't sure which sport he would pick," Prentice said. "There were a few times we tried to convince him [to switch back to football]. He would brush it off and joke about it. We all understood that's the way he was going.
"I don't think choosing was super easy. I think he really liked playing football."
Kohler still wonders what could have been.
"If Paolo had stayed in football, he would have been one of the top recruits in the country," Kohler said. "Even at 6-10, in my mind, he could have played at the next level."
