Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm
Reporter – News Analyst
January 21, 2020
Much has been written about Derrick Henry, the football phenomenon who plays for the Tennessee Titans. And we are sure that Henry — or King Henry, as he is now being called by some commentators — will continue to stack up records. Many local residents remember Henry fondly as both an outstanding athlete and a focused student growing up in Yulee, FL.
Although the Titans lost to the Kansas City Chiefs this past weekend, Derrick Henry must be recognized for his explosive performance throughout this past season and during his career to date.
The reporting below was done by Lisa Witt and published on the newsblog upnewsinfo.com on January 19, 2020.
So many ridiculous numbers are linked to runner Derrick Henry, the lead author of the unlikely career of the Titans to the AFC championship game. In the surprising Tennessee playoffs over New England and Baltimore, the 26-year-old became the first player with at least 180 yards on the ground in consecutive postseason games in NFL history.
With at least 123 yards on the ground against Kansas City in the title game, Henry would join Terrell Davis and John Riggins, both Pro Football Hall of Famers, as the only players with at least 500 yards on the ground in a single postseason in The history of the NFL. With at least 150, Davis would join as the only players with at least that many yards on the ground in three consecutive playoff games.
Simply put: Henry took over the NFL playoffs in 2020. However, no matter what he achieved on a professional level, he could always be better known for how absurd his high school football career was.
Many have called Henry the best runner in American football history in high school based on anecdotal evidence, such as the funny image of his barrel, although teenage opponents like the Incredible Hulk would do so through a multitude of civilians . But the legend has its roots in the facts.
In November 2012, Henry, who was in his last year at Yulee High School on the outskirts of Jacksonville, Florida, broke the national record for ground yards in high school. He did it in a 52-yard touchdown race during a playoff game in which he recorded 482 yards and 6 touchdowns in 58 carries.
“Breaking this record means a lot to me,” Henry told ESPN, who at that time had already chosen Alabama over Georgia and Tennessee as his university destination. “I’m glad to share it with my coaches, my teammates and all Yulee. Everyone helped me get to this point. I don’t think it really hits me until I finish football.”
The record that Henry broke, the 11,232 yards of Ken Hall for Sugar Land High School in Texas in the early 1950s, had been 51 years.
Of course, Henry’s 482 yards in that playoff game were not even the best total of his senior season.
Henry was still in high school when Bobby Ramsay assumed the position of head coach of Yulee in 2008, his first position after years as an assistant at the nearby First Coast High School. Ramsay assumed he was on a difficult journey as the leader of a program that had trouble collecting victories; The Hornets were 2-8 in 2007.
“I thought, I don’t know if I can do this,” Ramsay told TitansOnline.com in 2016. “We were bad. My runner coach kept telling me to wait there, there was a boy, Derrick, in high school. And I thought to myself, We’re about to go from 0 to 10, and there is a nice little eighth grade student in high school that is supposed to excite me; never I had seen Derrick. ”
Shortly after that, of course, Ramsay saw Henry’s version of high school for the first time: “Suddenly, out of this group, it’s this very tall child. I always compare it to an action that has a good month on a chart. He was very, far above the others. ”
Cole Willis, who played basketball against Henry in high school, gave Yahoo! an estimate of 6-2 and at least, 215 pounds when asked about Henry’s size at that age. However, Ramsey said Henry weighed 205 pounds as a freshman and a little taller with 6-3.
Needless to say, the exact measurements were irrelevant.
“Since the beginning of every game we played since his ninth grade, he was probably the best soccer player on the field in all the games he played in high school, and that’s even in the ninth grade,” Ramsay said. as a coach, it was like having a large and comfortable chair to rest wherever I went because I knew I would always have this guy who would produce 200 and 300 yards and four to six scores per game. ”
Yahoo! He recently spoke with a handful of former high school athletes who competed against Henry at that level. (The full article is worth it). Below are some examples of what was a similar experience for everyone who faced it, including opposing coaches:
– Dalton Delano, linebacker, West Nassau High School: “It was almost like a machine … You just enter, you are run over and you accept your destiny.”
– Michael Dudzinski, linebacker, West Nassau High School: “It felt like you were boarding a large four-wheeler. … Usually, when you approach someone, it doesn’t hurt you. Addressing it hurt. … Everyone was really sore after the game. ”
– Travis Hodge, head coach, Fernandina Beach High School: “If you hit it on the scrimmage line, or behind the scrimmage line, (the players) would be more aggressive. But the kids knew, when they reached the second level, and it was you and him – suddenly, they might stumble, or take an angle (bad), or neglect their angle. They would make a decision: tomorrow I have an appointment with my girlfriend. I don’t want to get hurt. ”
– James Thomson, head coach, Gainesville High School: “As a coach, I don’t fall in love with the players. I’m never really astonished. But with Henry? I remember, clearly, telling him after the game: “You’re going to win a Heisman. “
When Henry was in his senior year, according to The Washington Post, he was able to do a bench press 365 pounds, cleanly throw 315 pounds, squat 500 pounds and lift weight 550 pounds. He ran a race of 4.5 seconds and 40 yards.
Those numbers combined with his game tape led Henry to be recruited by a ton of universities. After initially committing to Georgia, he finally chose Alabama over the best options in Tennessee, Florida, Clemson, Miami, Notre Dame, USC and Florida State.
All he did with Crimson Tide was to win the Heisman Trophy, the Doak Walker Prize and the Maxwell Prize, as well as Walter Camp Player of the Year in 2015. He also helped & # 39; Bama win a national title that year, his youth campaign
“I have always thanked Derrick for allowing me to do many things that I would never have done if I had not trained him,” Ramsay said. (Ramsey left Yulee in 2017 for the job of head coach at Mandarin High School in Jacksonville). “I was not only able to train him in high school, but also to be able to go to the Heisman, and then see him recruited and observe him. He in Alabama and see him in the NFL, is a lot of fun.
“As for Derrick, he was always one of the boys when he was here. He obviously stood out physically and was the guy in front, but he was a leader and one of the boys. And he sure left his mark here.” “.
From Henry’s bio page on the Alabama soccer site, below are additional achievements and statistics that put into perspective how dominant he was in Yulee.
Qualified as a five-star prospect by ESPN, 247sports and Scout.com
The nation’s number 1 athlete and runner No. 4
Member of the All-USA 2012 soccer team, chosen by USA Today
National High School Football Player of the Year Maxwell Football Club 2012
Parade Magazine All-American and the national player of the year of publication
MaxPreps National Player of the Year and All-American First Team
It ranks fifth with 153 touchdowns on the ground in high school.
Selection of All-State of the first team of 2012 by Associated Press and was the Player of the Year in the All-First Coast team
2012 Columbus (Ohio) Touchdown Club National High School Player of the Year