William Jason Henderson is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for the

Old Dominion Monarchs The Old Dominion Monarchs are composed of 18 intercollegiate athletic teams representing Old Dominion University, located in Norfolk, Virginia. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, football, golf, sailing, soccer, swimming, and tennis. Wo ...

Early life

Henderson was born in

Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania Dingmans Ferry is an unincorporated community in Delaware Township, Pike County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of 2014, it had a population of 7,477 people. It was originally sited on the Delaware River, in an area now included in the Delawa ...

and attended

Delaware Valley High School Delaware Valley High School in Milford, Pennsylvania, United States, is a high school that serves grades 912 and is located in Pike County. As of 2019, it serves 1,517 students. The school is operated by the Delaware Valley School District T ...

. In Henderson's high school career he played on both sides of the ball. On offense he rushed for 1,411 yards and 24 touchdowns, while also hauling in 42 receptions for 740 yards and 11 touchdowns. On defense he notched 529 tackles, 14 sacks, 11 pass deflections, three interceptions, seven fumble recoveries, a forced fumble, and two blocked punts. In 2020, Henderson committed to play

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (Old Dominion or ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. It was established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary and is now one of the largest universities in Virginia with ...

College career

In week twelve of the 2021 season, Henderson forced a clutch fumble with under three minute left, that helped Old Dominion cloes out their 24-17 win over

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders are the men's and women's athletic teams at Middle Tennessee State University, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. MT athletic teams participate in NCAA Division I (Bowl Subdivision in football) in Conference USA. MT com ...

. Henderson finished the 2021 season with 78 tackles with four being for a loss, a sack, a fumble recovery, and a forced fumble. For his performance on the season he was named a Freshman All-American. In week one of the 2022 season, Henderson recorded 18 tackles which tied the school record, with 1.5 going for a loss, and two pass deflections, as he helped the Monarchs upset

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

20-17. For his performance on the week he was named the Sun Belt defensive player of the week. In week four against

Arkansas State Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage l ...

, Henderson totaled 21 tackles which broke the school record for tackles in a game. Four weeks later he broke his on record, talling 22 tackles versus

Georgia Southern Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hin ...

. Henderson finished his breakout 2022 season notching 186 tackles with ten being for a loss, a sack, and three pass deflections. His 186 tackles notched the most in the 2022 NCAA Season. For his performance on the season, Henderson was named the Touchdown Club of Richmond Linebacker of the Year. Henderson would also be named first team all Sun-Belt, and also second-team All-American, being the first Old Dominion player to do so at the FBS rank. Henderson would be named preseason first-team Group of Five All-American for the 2023 season. Henderson would also be named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list. And he would also be named the preseason Sun Belt defensive player of the year.

References

External links

Old Dominion Monarchs bio
Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American football linebackers Old Dominion Monarchs football players Players of American football from Pennsylvania {{linebacker-stub