Always the wrong size: Bralen Henderson is finding his fit with Mizzou
Missouri defensive tackle Bralen Henderson has never been quite the right size.
When he was playing youth football, he was a running back. But he got moved to tight end early on because he grew too big, too fast.
“I went from running back to tight end in like, sixth grade,” Henderson said. “But now, you gotta understand, like I played, I played quarterback, running back, offensive line, all types of things, you know, I kind of was, like, always a team player. And kind of just fill the roles that the team needed.”
Near the end of his high school career, Henderson filled a team need by moving to the defensive line. But once again, he wasn’t the right size.
“Everybody told me I was too big to be a running back,” Henderson said. “Now, I’m too small to be a defensive lineman. When I got to college, I was 235 (pounds).”
Henderson has bulked up to 293 pounds as he enters his fifth season of college football, but that leaves him on the lighter side of the Missouri defensive tackle room.
A path laid out
But luckily, the Pittsburgh native had another defensive tackle who was often called “undersized” to look up to.
“I watched Aaron Donald play, you know, I was blessed to be from Pittsburgh and hear about him,” Henderson said. “So kind of just watching a guy like him play and kind of like growing up and watching Pitt football. You know, I live 20 minutes away from the facility and everything. So kind of just watching things like that, you know, kind of helped me once I got to, like, ‘OK, I know I’m gonna play defensive line in college and I know I got to gain weight,’ and stuff like that. But I knew it was possible because I’ve seen it done.”
Now Henderson will try to follow the model Donald set as he joins the Tigers in a defensive tackle room needing some extra experience.
Part of the rotation
Henderson has become a clear part of the likely rotation at defensive tackle, alongside Chris McClellan, Sterling Webb and Marquis Gracial, after joining the Tigers during the summer.
“Really good unit from top down, just really solid,” Henderson said. “It’s a tight competition to see who’s going to, you know, start and who’s going to contribute. But like how I said, every guy in the room is good from top to bottom and we’re all making each other better.”
Henderson said joining the team during the summer after coming from Ohio in the spring transfer portal window left him a step behind.
“For me, coming in the summer, everybody was already so much ahead of me, so it was just a lot of, like, playing catch up,” Henderson said. “And one thing I will say is, like, the challenge was just the time. You know what I mean? You only have 24 horse in a day, but you have things to do outside of football. … The biggest challenge was just being able to manage my time well to learn everything I needed at a fast pace.”
But Henderson is all caught up now and ready to compete for a starting spot with the Tigers.
“We all want to win, we all want to compete. Like, we came here for a reason,” Henderson said. “You know what I mean? This is high-level football, winning culture. That’s what we’re about.”
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