The Wolverine

January 2012

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 1990s Defensive Tackle Tony Henderson Is Now Passing On His Knowledge As A Head Coach line stand that helped change the game in U-M's 21-13 victory in 1993. "Those were the games I remember the most," Henderson, now the head coach at Indianapolis T.C. Howe, re- called recently. "Notre Dame in 1991 and 1994 … I had [linebackers] Erick Anderson and Steve Morrison be- hind me, and people didn't attack those A gaps that much. Michigan State, those were games where there were a lot of dives, iso stuff in the A and B gaps. If you're a two-gap nose guard, you take offense if anyone gets to your middle linebacker, or take offense if anyone tries to run through those gaps." Henderson had some of his best games against teams who tried. That earned him spots on the second- team All-Big Ten squad in two of his four years, and he won three Big Ten championship rings and left with four bowl game victories in five years. Henderson made the travel roster as a true freshman in 1990. A year later, he split time with Buster Stan- ley in the middle, having earned the right with an outstanding spring. Boston College was first on the schedule in 1991, a season in which the Wolverines finished 11-2 and fea- tured a Heisman Trophy winner in Desmond Howard. The Wolverines went undefeated in league play and the defense did its part to ensure it, allowing only 23 points in the last five conference games, including only a field goal in a 31-3 win over Ohio State that capped the year. "My very first play against Boston Henderson earned second-team All-Big Ten honors in 1992 and '94, along with three Big Ten championship rings in his U-M career. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN BY CHRIS BALAS years in the Arena Football League to get playing the game he loved out of his system. It took him only one year as a head coach, though, to prove he's just as adept with the headset as he was in plugging A and B gaps in the winged helmet. In the latter role, Henderson was I one of the best. In four collegiate and nine AFL seasons, Henderson used his quickness to his advantage in be- coming a stalwart on some cham- pionship lines. Generously listed at 6-2, 269 pounds entering his senior 60 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2012 t took former Michigan All-Big Ten nose tackle Tony Henderson nine year, the former Indiana state wres- tling standout out of North Central high school in Indianapolis readily admitted it was his quickness, not his brawn, that helped him excel in the rugged Big Ten. When the time came to play big, though, head coach Gary Moeller and defensive coordinator Lloyd Carr knew they could count on him then, too. He proved it when Penn State head coach Joe Paterno ran his backs into the heart of U-M's defense four times near the goal line in the first-ever Big Ten meeting between the two schools. Henderson was in on three of the four tackles in a goal- College I had a pretty good pass rush move, and my shoe stuck in the turf and it came off. If you look at it, I might have had a sack, but I actually stopped during the play to pick the shoe up," Henderson recalled with a laugh. "They showed me chasing the quarterback after that with my shoe in my hand. "I came over to the sideline and Coach Tom Reed, my line coach, says, 'Why did you stop to pick it up? You would have had a sack!'" It only got better for Henderson. He registered five stops in U-M's first win over Notre Dame in four tries, a 24-14 victory that helped spur How- ard's Heisman Trophy campaign. He finished with 28 tackles playing a position in which he's not supposed to rack up a ton of them, earning his way into the starting lineup.

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