📡 Yulee retires Derrick Henry's jersey from record-breaking career - 247Sports

[Bama News]

Yulee retires Derrick Henry's jersey from record-breaking career

The school also unveiled a full-wall mural of Henry’s football career near the football team’s locker room.

247sports.com

Derrick Henry returned to Yulee, Fla., on Thursday night as his high school alma mater retired the No. 2 he wore during his record-breaking prep career. It occurred during halftime of Yulee’s spring game.

The school also unveiled a full-wall mural of Henry’s football career near the football team’s locker room.

“I thought it was a cool deal. I'm honored and humbled by it,” said Henry following the ceremony, according to News4Jax.com. “I just want to open up doors for kids who are from Yulee and the whole First Coast area. It's a moment I'll never forget.”





To say Henry was a star at Yulee would be an understatement.

The former 5-star recruit was named the 2012 Maxwell Football Club National High School Player of the Year after he broke Ken Hall’s 51-year-old national high school rushing record with 12,124 yards after rushing for 4,261 yards as a senior. Henry finished his high school career with 153 rushing touchdowns, which ranks fifth all-time, including 55 in 2012. He also set the Florida high school record with a 510-yard performance against Jacksonville and averaged 9.2 yards per carry and 327.8 yards per game as the nation’s No. 1 athlete, per the 247Sports Composite.

Henry rushed for 2,610 yards and 34 scores as a junior in 2011 to earn first-team All-Coast honors from the Florida Times-Union. He was also a first-team All-Coast running back in 2010 after rushing for 2,788 yards and 38 touchdowns while averaging 8.9 yards per attempt. He started his Yulee career under coach Bobby Ramsay with 2,465 yards and 26 scores as a freshman.

After a prolific high school career, Henry moved on to Alabama where he won the Heisman Trophy and a national championship as a junior in 2015. Henry set SEC single-season records with 2,219 rushing yards and rushing touchdowns with 28 in his final season with the Crimson Tide. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans with the 45th overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.



Entering his fourth season with the Titans, Henry will look to build on his breakout month to cap the 2018 season. He rushed for 1,059 rushing yards, the second-most in the AFC last year. In Tennessee’s four-game winning streak in December, he produced 532 yards and eight touchdowns.

The mural in Yulee features prominent photos of Henry in high school, college and the NFL.





“I was always that kid who looked up to athletes. I had a role model,” Henry said. “I just want to be what I looked up to as a kid. It's so cool to see the look on their faces and the impact I can have. I just want to be a great example and I hope they can follow in my footsteps and be even better.”

 

[XXL TideFan]

Nice

 

[50+yeartidefan]

 

[TUSKtimes]

The best back of the Saban era? I think so. A lot of these big guys have got to get the ball and a scheme they can run out of. He will always be fondly remembered for two things from my perspective. His top speed was just flat out amazing for his size. And he was better after his 30th carry than his first. Never, ever saw an Alabama running back with that much stamina. The LSU and the barner game was just Henry willing us to victory.

 

[#80]

Truly the definition of a beast.

 

[bamachine]

The best back of the Saban era? I think so. A lot of these big guys have got to get the ball and a scheme they can run out of. He will always be fondly remembered for two things from my perspective. His top speed was just flat out amazing for his size. And he was better after his 30th carry than his first. Never, ever saw an Alabama running back with that much stamina. The LSU and the barner game was just Henry willing us to victory.

He also has something that Trent was missing, field vision. Now just like Trent, he can occasionally be gotten in the backfield before he gets a chance to get moving. Neither are very slippery. At Bama, Trent ran behind a much better run blocking OL than Trent did.That ended up hurting Trent at the next level, as he did not develop any field vision.

My ranking for the Bama backs are as follows.

1-Shaun Alexander
2-Derrick Henry
3-Mark Ingram
4-Eddie Lacy
5-Trent Richardson

Crazy that 4 of the top 5(maybe like 8 out of 10) ever, IMO were under Saban. Bryant had some good backs but none that were next level good. I think Bryant had better QBs and OL guys than Saban but at RB, WR, TE, LB and DB, Nick takes the trophy. DL is about even. Nick is catching up on the other fronts also. Of course the best 5 players ever at Bama are not during the Saban era(maybe because of so much talent on the field at once). My top 5 Bama players ever are as follows...

1-Don Hutson(best WR in history, Rice played in a much friendlier time for WRs)
2-Derrick Thomas(best pass rushing LB in history)
3-Lee Roy Jordan(one of the best tackling LB in football history)
4-John Hannah(the best OG in football history)
5-Dwight Stephenson(one of the best C in football history)

Namath would come in 6th on my list, which just goes to show how awesome those first 5 were.

 

[mando]

So many good ones hard to really rank. Names like Nathan, Stabler, Musso, Ogilvie, Newsome, Palmer and many more.... Just glad I was raised right. Roll Tide...

 

[50+yeartidefan]

My ranking for the Bama backs are as follows.

1-Shaun Alexander
2-Derrick Henry
3-Mark Ingram
4-Eddie Lacy
5-Trent Richardson

All great RBs....but noone leaves Musso and bobby Humphrey out of a top 5 RBs....from Bama....

And maybe Humphrey was best of all.... and stats don’t matter...lot difference in football from decade to decade....eye test n team quality...

But ur list is great....no doubt

 

[mando]

So many good ones hard to really rank. Names like Nathan, Stabler, Musso, Ogilvie, Newsome, Palmer and many more.... Just glad I was raised right. Roll Tide...

Oh yeah forgot Johnny Davis and Humphrey. Just to many greats to name them all.

 

[bamachine]

All great RBs....but noone leaves Musso and bobby Humphrey out of a top 5 RBs....from Bama....

And maybe Humphrey was best of all.... and stats don’t matter...lot difference in football from decade to decade....eye test n team quality...

But ur list is great....no doubt

Musso would have been my number 6, Hump 7, Major 8, Lassic 9, Yeldon 10. Hon Mention to Josh Jacobs(we just did not get to see enough of him or he might be higher) and Damien Harris.

 

[alabama mike]

Congratulations to Derrick Henry!

That top 5 list of all time Bama players was very impressive.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Musso would have been my number 6, Hump 7, Major 8, Lassic 9, Yeldon 10. Hon Mention to Josh Jacobs(we just did not get to see enough of him or he might be higher) and Damien Harris.

Might change order ....but thats a solid top 10.....for sure....
Bear years remembered most for QBs.....but he had a bunch of outstaRBs...
Ogilvie, Musso, Jackson, butch henry, others....my mine went blank