Nick Saban recalls other colleges recruiting Derrick Henry to change positions: 'Can you believe that?'

Derrick Henry is one game into his 10th NFL season and has been nothing short of a generational talent, amassing an eye-popping 11,592 rushing yards and 108 rushing touchdowns in that span. Of course, what’s even more amazing is the fact that the Baltimore Ravens‘ five-time Pro Bowl running back is still 532 yards shy of what he accomplished in four seasons at small Yulee High in Northeast Florida.

A hulking terror in the 4A Hornets’ backfield as a high school senior in 2012, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound Henry signed with Alabama as the No. 1 running back in the 2013 recruiting cycle after eclipsing a still-record 12,124 rushing yards and 153 touchdowns over his four-year prep career at Yulee High.

Despite that production, some collegiate coaches infamously wanted Henry to make a position change to defense, at either linebacker or eventually defensive end. Well, everyone but Nick Saban to hear him tell it.

“The amazing thing about this — and I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus here so I won’t mention any names — but you can go back and see who all was recruiting him, and nobody but us said you can play running back. Can you believe that?” Saban said Friday during his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. “They were talking about the guy being an outside ‘backer, they’re talking about him being this and that, because he’s tall and long and doesn’t fit the real sort of running back style that people look for. I said, ‘Hell, this guy is hard to tackle, he’s fast, he’s got a great stiff-arm. … Why can’t he play running back?’ I don’t care if he looks a little different from some of the other guys. So I said: ‘Look, man, we’re recruiting you as a running back and you can do whatever you want to do.’”

As history would indicate, that was a wise decision on Saban’s part. “King Henry,” as he’s been known since high school, would go on to win the 2015 Heisman Trophy with an NCAA-leading 2,219 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns on 395 carries while leading the Crimson Tide to the College Football Playoff national championship in his junior season. Henry finished his Alabama career with 3,591 rushing yards and 45 total touchdowns in three seasons in Tuscaloosa.

Nick Saban recalls hilarious Derrick Henry interaction as a freshman

“The one Derrick Henry story I love to tell was when he was a freshman, and we were doing a pass-pickup blitz period, and he’s playing running back and he didn’t block the right guy. So coaches all get on his tail for not picking up the right linebacker,” Saban told McAfee on Friday. “And he comes to me and says, ‘Coach, you’re going to have to understand something, I never learned how to do any of this stuff in high school. They just turned around and tossed me the ball and told me to run with it. So I don’t understand any of this (blocking) stuff you’re talking about.’ He said, ‘But I’ll work on it and I’ll get it.’ And he got it.”

That dedication added to Alabama’s faith in him to play running back has obviously paid off handsomely for both Saban and Henry, who has eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards in six of his first nine NFL seasons, including a career-high 2,027 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2020 with the Tennessee Titans.

Now 31 and on the backside of his professional career arc, Henry is still more than 500 yards shy of topping his high school rushing mark. But after rushing for 169 rushing yards and two scores in Week 1’s 41-40 loss at Buffalo — in which he had a late fumble — Henry’s on pace to top 12,000 career rushing yards by the end of September.

“But I tell you, the most impressive thing about Derrick Henry to me, first of all we have a Nick’s Kids giveaway where we have 125 special-needs kids in a room and he buys them a bookbag and gets on video and talks to them,” Saban continued. “No. 2, how he took ownership for fumbling the ball in the game. How many guys would do that? Saying ‘It’s on me, the loss is on me. I’ve got to take care of the ball.’ Took total ownership from making a mistake in a game.”