Seantrel Henderson hoping to prove the past is past

MOBILE, Alabama -- He was the top offensive line prospect in the nation coming out of Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, Minn., in 2010, a mountain of a blocker who had college offers from Miami to Southern Cal.

His college career never quite lived up to the hype, marred with three separate suspensions and nearly sidetracked by a car accident in 2012 that left him concussed and cited for running a red light, while two children in the other car were injured.

But Miami offensive tackle Sentrel Henderson says he's learned and matured through it all - and he's ready to prove it this week to NFL scouts at the Senior Bowl.

"I feel like I've matured a lot over the years," Henderson said. "I'm just ready to move on to the next level.  ... I've been taking interviews since I've been here and I'm just being honest with every team and letting them know exactly what happened and the past is the past."

How can he prove that in a week? "Just by how I carry myself every day and my character," he said. "That's all they can really see while I'm here for this week. I've just got to keep showing everybody exactly who I am."

Henderson, who is playing for the North squad this week, surely got people's attention on Monday morning at the weigh-in, as he was measured at nearly 6-foot-7 and 331 pounds. His measurables have always been there, but Henderson said he wants to prove this week that he's a high-effort player as well.



"I just want to prove I'm explosive off the ball and there will be effort violations, if that's what you want to call it," he said. "Always play to the whistle, pass block really good, make sure I'm protecting the quarterback and anybody that's touching the ball, running downfield and helping whoever's got the ball, helping them get up. That's me."

While many high school players go to college with something to prove, Henderson was the kid who couldn't miss - the five-star blue-chipper that college recruiters compared to Orlando Pace. Four years later, Henderson looks back and sees all that as a lot of pressure for an incoming freshman.

"You're just an 18-year-old kid ranked super-high, there's a lot of expectations, everybody wants you to play good, wants you to play the best you can," he said. "I think some people feel like you're supposed to be mistake-free, but you're still a kid at the time."

Henderson made headlines before he ever played a down of college football, as his extended recruitment was national news. He signed with USC but the Trojans were hit with severe NCAA sanctions, including a two-year bowl ban, a couple months later and he was released from his scholarship by Lane Kiffin, who was entering his first year as the Trojans' head coach. Henderson, who then went to Miami, says now that his lack of chemistry with Kiffin was much a reason for his departure from USC as the sanctions.

"It wasn't all about the violations," he said. "I didn't really have a good relationship with those guys. ... We just didn't click."

Miami, meanwhile, had its own NCAA issues arise in the form of the Nevin Shapiro case, and the Hurricanes voluntarily sat out the postseason in 2011 and 2012 as part of their self-imposed penalties. The NCAA did not add an additional bowl ban when it handed down its sanctions last year, however, and Henderson wrapped up his senior year by playing in the Florida Citrus Bowl, where Miami fell to Louisville.

Henderson, who was recruited to Miami while Randy Shannon was head coach, said he was impressed with how Shannon's successor, Al Golden, handled the situation.

"That meant a lot to us as a team," he said. "I can only imagine what coach Golden was really going through that we didn't really get to see, coming into a whole different team and then he's already got penalties that he really didn't have anything to do with."


(al.com)