Derrick Henry

Derrick Lamar Henry Jr. (born January 4, 1994) is an American football running back for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "King Henry", he is known for his imposing "bell cow" style of play and larger stature than the average running back. Born and raised in Yulee, Florida, Henry set the national high school football record for career rushing yards with the Yulee Hornets. He played college football at Alabama, where during his junior season, he broke Herschel Walker's single-season college rushing yards record in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), won the 2015 Heisman Trophy, the Doak Walker Award, the Maxwell Award, and the Walter Camp Award, and was a key part of the 2015 Alabama Crimson Tide football team that won the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship. Henry was drafted in the second round of the 2016 NFL draft by the Titans, where he has since been a three-time Pro Bowl selection. A backup for most of his first two seasons in the league, Henry emerged as the Titans' feature back near the end of the 2018 season. He led the NFL in rushing yards for the 2019 season, as well as rushing touchdowns (tied with Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones). In 2020, Henry would again lead the league in rushing yards and touchdowns and became the eighth player in NFL history to rush for over 2,000 yards in a single season, and the second Tennessee Titan to do so. Henry won the 2020 Associated Press NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award. After missing more than half of the 2021 season to injury, Henry made his third Pro Bowl appearance the following season. Early life Derrick Lamar Henry Jr. was born in Yulee, Florida, a suburb of Jacksonville, to Stacy Veal and Derrick Henry Sr., aged 15 and 16 respectively. Henry's father, known as "Big D", was absent for much of his childhood, having been arrested 20 times for various crimes including drug and prostitution-related offenses, and was consequently in and out of prison and had trouble maintaining employment. His mother became a hemodialysis technician. Henry was raised primarily by his grandmother, Gladys, who nicknamed him "Shocka", as his birth shocked the whole family, given his parents' young ages. He developed a close relationship to his grandmother, whom he cites as very influential in his upbringing.