The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/382426
MICHIGAN FOOTBALL and other offensive linemen are not too far … they might be ahead of me. That's a compliment, but everybody goes hard in the weight room." Henry admitted he takes a spe- cial pride in performing what others might consider a thankless task. He likens the middle of the "box," in foot- ball parlance, to the key in basketball where the big men trade blows. "It's not a pretty place," Henry ad- mitted. "Me and a couple of our de- fensive linemen call it the paint. We grind in the paint. It's not easy, it's not fun. "It's not for everybody — banging in the paint. It's like banging against offensive linemen. The trenches are tough. Everybody goes hard. The of- fensive linemen have got an attitude. A lot of people can't do it, or every- body else would." Along with the banging, Henry's looking forward to more opportuni- ties to separate footballs from tail- backs. He knows Michigan forced only one turnover in its opening three games, and that needed to change, he assured. "It's getting to the ball more often, hitting harder and trying to strip the ball when we group tackle," he said. "It's just a conscious effort of trying to get the ball out. We have to make Henry, a redshirt sophomore defensive tackle, excelled during Michigan's first three con- tests, notching seven tackles while also taking on double-teams and freeing up his team- mates to make plays. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN