Tah Mac Bright Banda gets Saints chance after UT Martin linebacker’s long road through Lamar and Incarnate Word
Tah Mac Bright Banda is getting an NFL look from the New Orleans Saints after finishing his final college season at UT Martin.
The Saints invited the 6-foot-2, 235-pound linebacker to their rookie minicamp, set for May 8-9 in Metairie, Louisiana, giving Banda his next step after a college path that took him through multiple programs before landing in Martin.
Banda made that final stop count. In 2025, he played in all 12 games, made nine starts, and earned All-OVC-Big South second-team honors.
He finished with 66 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, four pass breakups, and one interception, while posting at least five tackles in nine games.
The player had some of his busiest days against Missouri State and Charleston Southern, recording eight tackles in each matchup.
A college road that kept moving
Banda’s route to this Saints chance did not follow a straight line. UT Martin lists him as a transfer from Lamar, but his football journey also included time at Marshall and Incarnate Word before his final season with the Skyhawks.
That kind of path can wear players down. Banda kept moving and kept producing.
At Lamar in 2024, he played in 12 games, started eight, and totaled 67 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, one sack, three quarterback hurries, and a forced fumble.
He reached a season high of nine tackles against both Southeastern Louisiana and McNeese, showing the same steady production that later followed him to UT Martin.
Before that came a quieter year at Marshall, where he spent the 2023 season but did not appear in a game.
Earlier than that, he logged 23 games across three seasons at Incarnate Word from 2020 through 2022, totaling 43 tackles, three tackles for loss, and two pass breakups.
His biggest season there came in 2022, when he put up 35 tackles and continued building the experience that would carry him through the rest of his career.
There is another layer to Banda’s story that makes the Saints invite stand out even more.
He was not one of those players who had been on the football path since childhood. Marshall’s bio notes that he posted 60 tackles in his first year of organized football as a junior in high school, while Incarnate Word’s profile says he only started playing football at 15.
He reached this point later than most, then spent the next several years making up ground.
That is what makes this opportunity in New Orleans worth watching. Banda is not arriving as a draft pick with built-in security.
He is arriving as a linebacker who had to keep earning the next stop, then turned his final college season into a real NFL camp chance. Rookie minicamp will be another test, but it is also another door opened.
For the Saints, Banda brings experience, size, and a background that shows he can adjust quickly.
For Banda, this is the kind of weekend that can extend a career and reshape it.
He went from a late football start in Houston to Incarnate Word, Marshall, Lamar, and UT Martin. Now he has a chance to keep that climb going in an NFL building.
