Derrick Henry’s former teammates at Yulee High School in Florida saw it all long before the NFL did. Saw the intimidating power of a human locomotive, saw the unexpected speed, saw the pulverizing stiff-arm, saw the unbridled swagger when the game was on the line.
They saw King Henry before he ascended to the throne with the Titans, and now with the Ravens as the NFL’s leading rusher — 119 carries for-704 yards, 5.9 yard average and eight touchdowns — at age 30.
“I know for a fact that a lot of teams that we played, they would work on tackling the low hip and tackling the legs with Derrick and getting guys to gang tackle, getting a lot of guys to the ball,” Zac Camp told Serby Says. “I know that was a point of emphasis for a lot of people was tackling him low and not trying to get up high where he could get a stiff arm on ya.”
Camp played wide receiver with Henry at Yulee.
“It’s still the same, man,” he said. “Bounce outside, he’s got one defender to beat, he gets the angle, puts his arm out and finishes the run. And a lot of that, too, was people never realized because he’s so tall and so big, people never realized how fast he was moving. He had such a long stride that it didn’t look like he was moving that fast, but he was covering so much more ground with his stride that whenever he would get to the edge it would be deceptive sometimes, you’d think you’d have the angle on him, and he could finish runs though, too. People never really saw that.”
Brycen Gagnon played outside linebacker at Yulee High School.
“I remember we had a night practice one time, and one of our safeties that was in his class as well, was a good, hard-hitting safety and thought he would meet Derrick on a toss, and the kid ended up losing his helmet because he got hit so hard,” Gagnon recalled with a laugh.
Henry is the 6-foot-3, 247-pound running back Jerry Jones should have signed for the bargain price of two years, $16 million for his Cowboys. King Henry is the outlier in the age of the devalued running back.
“It looks like he’s only picking up steam,” Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke says.
Okereke played against King Henry twice a year as a Colt.
“He’s a very difficult tackle, because he’s a big man, he’s fast and he’s got a very good stiff-arm,” Okereke said. “He used it on me, I’ve chopped it down before and tackled him, and he’s gotten me before, so it’s been a good battle.”
King Henry can be one intimidating freight train roaring down the tracks at would-be tacklers.
“You got to go low, you got to run to and through him, and you got to be prepared to chop down his stiff-arm,” Okereke said.
Asked if there is anyone like him in the league, Okereke said, “From a size, speed, athleticism combo, I would say no.”
Giants defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches played at Southern Miss against Henry when he played at Alabama.
“You want to get those guys stopped before they get started,” the man they call Nacho said.
If you don’t, there is usually hell to pay for some poor defender.
“He’s big, but he runs high, so he gives me a lot of target,” Nacho said. “But for them other little guys, different story.”
“If you saw [the stiff-arm] coming, you got to dive for his ankles or something because he’s going to bounce your head off the ground,” Gagnon said. “Deadly is the best word to put it, yes sir.”
Gagnon was 215 pounds at Yulee. Henry was somewhere between 220 and 230. Practice didn’t always make perfect at practice.
“Hitting that man every day will make a man out of you quick. He was a load in high school, and obviously has continued to be that way,” Gagnon said.
A King amongst men now, a man amongst boys then.
“We would use Derrick in special pass-rushing situations, we’d put him in like late in the game to just get after the quarterback,” Camp said. “We would put him in sometimes on kickoff return every once in a while when we needed a big play.
“We were down a couple of scores in a big district game against the Bolles School, and we just decided that we wanted Derrick to get the kickoff, get him lined him up in the middle. I was going to lead block and he was going to pick up the ball. He lets it bounce a couple of times, he picks it up, made a couple of guys miss and then took it to the house and got us a big score when we really, really needed it to put us back in the game.”
No one is surprised at what King Henry is doing.
“He’s always been a guy who’s going to put in the extra work,” Camp said. “To me, he’s always seemed unstoppable. He’s always seemed like Superman almost, to where no matter what people throw at him, he overcomes, that type of thing.
“I’ve told reporters before he’s kind of got that Jordan Effect to me, where he thrives in situations better when people are kind of he’s the underdog. That doesn’t happen very often for him, but I think coming into the season after coming off an injury and some of the things that he has gone through in Tennessee … they weren’t naysayers, but people started talking about, ‘Oh, he’s getting older. Is his prime time up?’ I’ve been telling people, I’m like, ‘All right, he’s not a normal person.’ He’s not your Average Joe, that’s for sure. I think any little thing like that that Derrick can use as an edge, he does use as an edge for himself. I think he thrives in those situations, and I think he welcomes those challenges.”
Legendary Browns RB Jim Brown used to walk back expressionless to the huddle following a violent collision with Giants MLB Sam Huff. Henry is a silent assassin.
“Probably the most terrifying part is he didn’t really talk during games,” Gagnon said. “No need for shenanigans, just business.”
Giants cornerback Adoree’ Jackson played with the Titans from 2017-20 with King Henry.
“A good genuine guy,” Jackson said. “Just a joy to be around, a great teammate and a great locker-room presence.”
Same as he was at Yulee.
Gagnon: “He was always a super-genuine guy, and always seemed to be there and help out where he could, even in little things — whether it’s car washes to raise money for football, or just helping out a teammate, like jump-start their truck or something.”
Camp: “He’s just a normal dude. He’s really funny. He likes to lighten the mood. He likes people to feel comfortable. He’s just one of the guys.”
The Yulee boys have remained in touch with King Henry (10,206 career rushing yards) and watch with pride the way he has given the Ravens a pick-your-poison attack alongside QB Lamar Jackson.
“I know I’m happy to see him in Baltimore,” Camp said. “Happy to see that he’s doing well and he’s got a chance to compete for a championship hopefully. I like how he kind of gives that tough-nosed edge that Baltimore’s kind of been known for in the past.
“This could be the place that he could solidify his Hall of Fame career.”
Fitting for a King.