Derrick Henry has come a long way since his time as a freshman at the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2013. While the Ravens’ star may be one of the best running backs in the NFL today, he was not always at this level, particularly in his early years.
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Nick Saban, appearing on The Pivot podcast, recalled how clueless Henry was in his first season with the Crimson Tide. The legendary HC hilariously revealed that Henry had no idea about pass blocking.
“Derrick Henry. Alright, so he’s a freshman. We’re doing a team pass drill. And he don’t know his a*s from a handful of sand about pass protection, pass blocking, none of this sh*t,” said Saban, before elaborating on how this was getting on the Alabama OC’s nerves.
“So the offensive coordinator is like he doesn’t pick up the right guy or something, and the offensive coordinator is getting on him so bad,” added Saban.
Despite multiple interventions by the OC, Henry was visibly out of his depth. Saban eventually felt bad for the freshman and decided to comfort him. Surprisingly, he discovered during his conversation with the RB that he had no experience with pass blocking in high school.
Due to Derrick’s innate ferocity and physicality from a young age, his high school coaches simply asked his players to toss the ball to Henry, who would then run with it to the end zone. After making the sheepish admission, Henry had one request for Saban — patience.
“I’m like, ‘I feel sorry for this guy. I’m gonna go, you know, rub his neck a little bit.’ And [Henry] looks at me, and he says, ‘Coach, I don’t know anything about any of this sh*t. All they did in high school was turn around and toss me the ball and tell me to run with it. That’s all I know about football. So can you all have a little patience?'” revealed Saban.
WILD: Nick Saban on Derrick Henry adjusting to college…
“A freshman in a team pass drill, clueless about pass protection. The coach yells, and he tells me, ‘Coach, in high school, they just tossed me the ball and said run. That’s all I know. Be patient”
pic.twitter.com/e3CP5VrhQ3— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) January 23, 2025
Luckily for Henry, Saban persisted with him. And the HC’s perseverance paid off big time as Henry won the Heisman Trophy (2015) as a junior. The RB finished that season with 2,219 rushing yards and 28 TDs, which also helped him win multiple awards [Doak Walker Award, Walter Camp Award, and Maxwell Award].
What about his NFL career? Henry has had nine seasons in the NFL, and no one has performed better as an RB in that period.
He has led the rushing leaderboard twice while leading the rushing TDs metric thrice. Henry was also named the Offensive Player of the Year in 2020.
Henry’s journey to the top reminds us that nobody is flawless. Even the best had to start from scratch and work extremely hard to get where they are now.
