Heading into his first collegiate start for the Arizona State, the odds seemed stacked against true freshman LaDarius Henderson.
The Sun Devils would be heading on the road to take on No. 18 Michigan State and a unit that ranked first in rush defense and boasted a defensive line primed with NFL talent.
Henderson would have to deal with all these factors all at the unripe age of 17 years old, playing a sport that up until two years he hasn’t played at all.
While the circumstances would bring the nerves even out of experienced juniors and seniors, the true freshman simply didn’t feel any heading into the game.
“Honestly, I wasn’t nervous,” Henderson remarked. “I thought I was going to be nervous. The whole week I was like why am I not nervous? Running out I was like I’ll surely be nervous then I run out and I wasn’t nervous when I ran out. Then the first play, I was like okay I’m going to be nervous on the first play, wasn’t nervous on the first play.”
Henderson was thrust into the starting lineup after the team’s coaches moved senior Cohl Cabral back to original position at center after playing left tackle to begin the year. The move opened up a spot for Henderson to step into and play.
This move, in turn, moved fellow true freshman Dohnovan West from the center position to right guard where he excelled during the matchup against Michigan State.
“I thought they performed really well considering the circumstances,” offensive line coach Dave Christensen said. “LaDarius got thrown in his first college game. He just turned 18 years old, he’s never played a snap, he’s got 70,000 people in front of him in the stadium, playing against a great player (Kenny Willekes). I think probably three of their four guys will get drafted this year on the the defensive front, I thought he battled his tail off.”
Christensen was not the only person in the program to be impressed with the true freshman duo as Cabral was equally impressed with the duo.
“[West] played lights out,” Cabral stated. “He’s been playing that way since week one. Goes out and play physical.
The fact that [Henderson] got thrown in the fire against a guy that’s going to be in the draft and go very high in the next year or two is awesome. He played as well as a guy who is 17 to go out and block an edge rusher as elite as that guy. He did a good job, I’m very impressed with him.”
Even with both the praise of Cabral and Christensen, the play of the line is very much still work in progress.
The offensive line allowed a total of four sacks throughout the matchup and overall seven tackles for a loss. The numbers would have been greater if not for the the scrambling ability of freshman Jayden Daniels who made plays to avoid the pass rush throughout the game.
This ability to improve and get better is at the forefront of the team’s mind as they look to begin conference play on a high note against Colorado.
“We all could have played better,” Henderson said. “Even Dohnovan as good of a game as he had. We didn’t meet the standard with that game. Even though we won, we could’ve obviously done a lot better. It seems like it’s okay because we won, it would be a different story if we did not win. I’m just proud of us. We met the physicality. I’m not going to lie ─ those guys were good. They had about three guys who will probably be playing on Sundays.”
Despite having both started as true freshmen, both West and Henderson were not originally in consideration to get serious action this season. The original plan involved ideally starting the beginning of the year with a line that could have up to five seniors starting.
Due to injury to Cade Cote and the absence of Zach Robertson, two positions were opened for the likes of Henderson and West. A possibility that Henderson was not expecting as he headed into the season.
“Yes, I did think I was going to [redshirt],” Henderson admitted. “Even as a redshirt, you have to prepare like a starter. When my name was called, I just had to be ready for the opportunity.”
Even though both freshmen could have simply mailed in their redshirt years, both players came every day with a sense of wanting to get better and learn in practice.
Their ability to take what they learn from on film and from their position coaches and their ability to translate it to the field has both players playing more like veterans than newcomers.
“It was a heck of a task to take on,” Christensen confessed of the performance of his two true freshmen against Michigan State. “I thought those kids approached it with great attitudes. They’ve worked extremely hard since they’ve been here in training camp. Every single time we ran a play with the ones LaDarius was behind taking steps and going through his assignment. They’re mature beyond their years as far as their preparation, their knowledge of the offense, their knowledge of playing football, their football IQ, and because of that they were able to put into position to give us a chance to win a football game.”
This sense of maturity is one that both players will look to lean on heading into the remainder of the year as Pac-12 play begins.
No matter what Henderson accomplishes the rest of the season or whatever the the remainder of the 2019 season holds, he knows he will do so without every being alone.
This sense of always having someone by his side in everything he does might just be the reason that the true freshman had no nerves going into a matchup against No. 18 ranked Michigan State.
“I can’t take credit for any of that,” Henderson stated. “Being there, starting, being here, just playing right away especially in as big of a game as that was. The lord was with me the entire time I was doing that ─ with the whole team. He had his hand all over that, all over me and our opponent was great but with god, you have the majority. I’m not Goliath anymore, I was David in that situation. When Christ was with me, I was victorious.”
Join us on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle, to discuss this article and other ASU football and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today here and join your fellow Sun Devil fans!
