Ohio State RB Henderson wants to prove he’s “the best in the country”

On Jan 14, 2023

Every year, TreVeyon Henderson writes a list of his football goals.

He usually doesn’t share what those are until he meets them.

Suffice to say that he didn’t have a need to reveal them last year. Hampered by a broken bone and a torn ligament in his foot that ended his season early, Henderson ran for only 571 yards and six touchdowns in 2022. That’s 677 yards and nine touchdowns fewer than he ran for as a freshman in 2021.

Henderson is in the early stages of rehab following surgery and is intent on re-establishing himself as an elite player.

“I know next year when I get back, I’m going to show the world I’m the best running back in the country,” Henderson said.

In Atlanta for Ohio State’s College Football Playoff semifinal against Georgia, Henderson was still getting around on a scooter. He has since progressed to a walking boot. Henderson said he expects to be jogging in three months and running full speed in four or five months. That timetable would keep him out of spring practice, which starts in March.

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“I want to be smart with this thing and take my time with it and make sure I’m fully healthy,” he said.

Henderson was injured against Toledo in the Buckeyes’ third game of the season. He was in and out of the lineup for the rest of the season. He said he had difficulty making cuts, which is a big part of his game. He tried to play through the pain until it just became too difficult.

“Sometimes, as soon as I got tackled – even if it wasn’t a hard tackle – I’d end up tweaking it again. I knew if I cut too hard, I’d tweak it again,” Henderson said. “The doctor said the bone I fractured limited my ability to push off and cut. Every time I tried to push off the foot, I kept refracturing it.”

It wasn’t just the foot that caused him pain.

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“There was some stuff involved around this injury that I didn’t respect – not even coming from outside but inside of the building,” Henderson said, declining to add specifics. “It hurt me a lot.”

At one point, he even questioned his future as a Buckeye. But he said heart-to-heart conversations with running backs coach Tony Alford and head coach Ryan Day cleared up the issues.

“I’m definitely locked in now that we got everything we needed to get off our chest,” he said.

“I love my coach,” Henderson said of Alford. “He’s always there for me. I appreciate him so much for everything he does.”

Alford knows how frustrating it was for Henderson to battle through the injury.

“He’s a great kid,” Alford said in Atlanta. “He’s highly competitive. He’s a tough guy. No one’s ever questioning that from inside the walls in our building. I’ve never questioned that and will never question that. He’s a team guy. He’s a man’s man.”

Henderson can now find the silver lining in his tough sophomore season.

“I needed a setback,” he said. “I know one thing, though. Once I get healthy again, I’m going to work my ass off. I know the expectations I’ve got for myself, and not just that people at Ohio State have for me, are huge.”

Henderson has often talked about how difficult it was growing up in his impoverished, crime-ridden hometown of Hopewell, Virginia.

“For people to question my motivation, they don’t know where I come from,” he said. “If they go to my hometown and see how I grow up, they won’t question my motivation. That’s my motivation right there.”