Derrick Henry announcing today

[atlantagator86]

Originally Posted by RealGatorFan

In 11 games this year, Henry has not been held below 200 yards rushing. Against teams that have seen him for 3 prior years. Still couldn't stop him.

He could be a decent power back for somebody but when I watched him on TV, it's not really like he has the moves or elusiveness of a great running back. He runs very upright and doesn't really hold the ball like a typical back and lots of defenders get a hand on him. He's just literally just too big for high school kids to tackle and he does seem to have really good straight line speed.

He could probably learn to run lower and hold the ball better, but with his size, I think most experts think he's more than likely going to end up playing on defense.

[teamtodd]

Wilmus told him he would not play RB for him at UF...he needed to seriously think about switching to DE because thats where the real money lies in NFL. Henry asked him to reconsider and to give him an honest look at RB...Wilmus said not here Henry said okay, then I will prove to you that I'm the best to EVER carry a football and you will be watching me from the opposite sidelines on Saturdays. So Wilmus asked him to leave...
So now we have lost what Nick Saban calls "The best ball carrier he may have ever seen at Henry's age"?! Henry is/was as big of a Gator fan as we are...damn shame!
You don't break the all-time career rushing record for high school by only being an "
athlete", there's more to it than that! He just ran a 4.37 last week at 245 lbs and benched 385! He keeps getting better, stronger, and faster! But make no mistake about it, one thing separates him from most every RB in high school, his VISION. He has always had the ability to see a block even before it fully develops. Remember how Emmitt would evade a tackler by the slightest wiggle or shoulder turn, or see something opening up backside that wasn't designed to be there? That's what Henry makes look so easy!
Frankly, people who talk about Henry moving to defense have no clue, which tells me all I need to know about their evaluation of RB talent...and for those that have talked about Henry moving to H back or TE...that's so hilarious! Those people absolutely have no clue!
Henry is averaging over 300 yards per game against 9, 10, and 11 man boxes...against good football teams!
For those people who run on about he's just bigger than his competition and college players will be better and tackle better, well, his offensive line will be MUCH BETTER TOO! How is it that Henry can't succeed because he will be playing against better competition, but Taylor or the other RBs that fit into "the RB mold" can?
I'm just tired of all the talking heads that have no idea what the hell they are talking about spewing rhetoric about Henry...time for someone to set the record straight!
However, those people have been his motivation...to be the best RB ever, but also to turn away from the college team he has loved since a little kid.
In the end, we will realize one day soon that he was ours to have, but he's breaking records at Bama
If Wilmus would change his mind and pursue Henry as the "one kid" we must have in order to turn our offense around, maybe Henry would come back home.

[GATORAZ]

paragraphs? He wont break one record at Bama

[Itssaul]

He is good. No way he will be better than lane or taylor. There's a mold for a reason. In the nfl an RB can't just break LB tackles day in day out. He'll be good in college and I think we should have taken him. But it'd be hard to give up lane or taylor for him, I would give him a scholar ship over many other recruit tho

[DieAGator]

Originally Posted by Itssaul

But it'd be hard to give up lane or taylor for him, I would give him a scholar ship over many other recruit tho

Why couldn't we take a third RB? With all respect to Adam, why would he project to be a better college RB?

[GATORAZ]

Originally Posted by DieAGator

Why couldn't we take a third RB? With all respect to Adam, why would he project to be a better college RB?

we could take a 3rd RB if Collins or Green called tomorrow and said they wanted to be Gators the staff would take them.

[Itssaul]

Originally Posted by DieAGator

Why couldn't we take a third RB? With all respect to Adam, why would he project to be a better college RB?

We should have. Henry would have been a great add.

[PSGator66]

I will take Taylor and Lane any day of the week and twice on Sunday!

[teamtodd]

Originally Posted by PSGator66

I will take Taylor and Lane any day of the week and twice on Sunday!

I would too! But I'm afraid Henry is gonna be that GREAT ONE that got away from us?! Guys, I can't emphasize it enough, he's gonna change the way people view big backs!

[gatorchamp27]

I dont understand why you dont pick him up let him try it out at back and if it doesnt work it doesnt work move him to lb. Sometimes coaches think they are to smart for their own good and miss out on a quality player. I mean how often do we move players from 1 side of the ball to the other. The key is to get him on campus in a gator uni

[GATORAZ]

Originally Posted by gatorchamp27

I dont understand why you dont pick him up let him try it out at back and if it doesnt work it doesnt work move him to lb. Sometimes coaches think they are to smart for their own good and miss out on a quality player. I mean how often do we move players from 1 side of the ball to the other. The key is to get him on campus in a gator uni

well you also need to be honest with players durig thier recrutiment.
But the bigger reason they stopped recruiting him is because of what happened n his visit to Florida.

[GATORAZ]

Originally Posted by teamtodd

I would too! But I'm afraid Henry is gonna be that GREAT ONE that got away from us?! Guys, I can't emphasize it enough, he's gonna change the way people view big backs!

Playing behind TJ?

[DieAGator]

Originally Posted by GATORAZ

But the bigger reason they stopped recruiting him is because of what happened n his visit to Florida.

Well, lets just hope staff doesn't end up beasting us and staff wishing they had just cut him some slack for whatever he is rumored to have done.

[Itssaul]

If Steven Jackson hasn't changed the way people view big backs, idk who will. I'll take MJD, and Doug Martin any day of the week over him.

[atlantagator86]

Originally Posted by teamtodd

I would too! But I'm afraid Henry is gonna be that GREAT ONE that got away from us?! Guys, I can't emphasize it enough, he's gonna change the way people view big backs!

Anything is possible, but I really didn't see anything in him as a RB that makes him special. It would be like taking Alex Brown and lining him up as a HS running back. No high school kid would be able to tackle him. He's big and strong and has really good straight line speed.

But once you get to the college level, aren't going to just run over very many players. You need a low center of gravity, which right now, he doesn't have. He doesn't appear to have particularly good moves for a RB and it doesn't look like he has very good ball handling skills.

He can probably learn to run with a lower center of gravity and he can probably learn better ball handling skills.

[DeBigLeezard]

Henry reminds me a lot of James Wilder out of Plant High School who is now at FSU.
Same height... weight... body build AND running style.
Florida coaches told him that his best position in COLLEGE would be linebacker or defensive end. FSU told him what HE wanted to hear.

After three years... what has James Wilder (5* running back out of high school that everyone was after)
...done at FSU???

It will be VERY interesting to see what Derrick Henry does at Alabammy in the next two to three years.

[tec68]

Originally Posted by teamtodd

Wilmus told him he would not play RB for him at UF...he needed to seriously think about switching to DE because thats where the real money lies in NFL. Henry asked him to reconsider and to give him an honest look at RB...Wilmus said not here Henry said okay, then I will prove to you that I'm the best to EVER carry a football and you will be watching me from the opposite sidelines on Saturdays. So Wilmus asked him to leave...
So now we have lost what Nick Saban calls "The best ball carrier he may have ever seen at Henry's age"?! Henry is/was as big of a Gator fan as we are...damn shame!
You don't break the all-time career rushing record for high school by only being an "
athlete", there's more to it than that! He just ran a 4.37 last week at 245 lbs and benched 385! He keeps getting better, stronger, and faster! But make no mistake about it, one thing separates him from most every RB in high school, his VISION. He has always had the ability to see a block even before it fully develops. Remember how Emmitt would evade a tackler by the slightest wiggle or shoulder turn, or see something opening up backside that wasn't designed to be there? That's what Henry makes look so easy!
Frankly, people who talk about Henry moving to defense have no clue, which tells me all I need to know about their evaluation of RB talent...and for those that have talked about Henry moving to H back or TE...that's so hilarious! Those people absolutely have no clue!
Henry is averaging over 300 yards per game against 9, 10, and 11 man boxes...against good football teams!
For those people who run on about he's just bigger than his competition and college players will be better and tackle better, well, his offensive line will be MUCH BETTER TOO! How is it that Henry can't succeed because he will be playing against better competition, but Taylor or the other RBs that fit into "the RB mold" can?
I'm just tired of all the talking heads that have no idea what the hell they are talking about spewing rhetoric about Henry...time for someone to set the record straight!
However, those people have been his motivation...to be the best RB ever, but also to turn away from the college team he has loved since a little kid.
In the end, we will realize one day soon that he was ours to have, but he's breaking records at Bama
If Wilmus would change his mind and pursue Henry as the "one kid" we must have in order to turn our offense around, maybe Henry would come back home.

Just saying, I am pretty sure Kelvin was #1 on their board. And Henry really isn't that great at making guys miss, he is fast and runs people over but he runs very upright. He will need to learn how to run in college, he is almost a project at RB. Watch his film because he can not run in college how he does in high school.

In no way am I saying he will not be good or even great but the coaches do need to work a lot with him because he uses mostly talent over technique at this moment. Don't take this personally, I just call it how it is. I am a talent evaluator for a few coaches around. Take it for whatever its worth to you.

[atlantagator86]

Originally Posted by DeBigLeezard

Henry reminds me a lot of James Wilder out of Plant High School who is now at FSU.
Same height... weight... body build AND running style.
Florida coaches told him that his best position in COLLEGE would be linebacker or defensive end. FSU told him what HE wanted to hear.

After three years... what has James Wilder (5* running back out of high school that everyone was after)
...done at FSU???

Wilder is a true sophomore, so this is only his second season. He was their third leading rusher last year as a true freshman and is currently third this year with over 500 yards rushing, so he's not exactly a bust.

But to your point, Wilder has a similar high center of gravity and running style but Henry is even taller and has about 20 lbs on Wilder. I think they will both eventually be on defense.

[teamtodd]

Originally Posted by tec68

Just saying, I am pretty sure Kelvin was #1 on their board. And Henry really isn't that great at making guys miss, he is fast and runs people over but he runs very upright. He will need to learn how to run in college, he is almost a project at RB. Watch his film because he can not run in college how he does in high school.

In no way am I saying he will not be good or even great but the coaches do need to work a lot with him because he uses mostly talent over technique at this moment. Don't take this personally, I just call it how it is. I am a talent evaluator for a few coaches around. Take it for whatever its worth to you.

I'm sure Taylor is one evaluation you will hit on, but Henry is one you will miss on. All of the things that you pointed out about Henry's limitations as a RB have mostly been corrected this season. That is why he has been able to rush for well over 3,000 yards this year and break the all-time record. Your comments about not being able to make people miss and runs too upright indicated you have not seen much of him this season. If you have seen him play extensively this season, yet have the same opinion of him, well...then that tells me all I need to know about your RB evaluations...just saying.

[GatorNorth]

Listening to our fans talk about Henry is like listening to our opponents fans talk about E Smith or UGa's opponents fans talk about Herschel.

The kid just broke a 60 year old record playing against good competition and runs a 4.37. How bad can he be?