Robert Wayne Henry, III (born January 26, 1990) is a former

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 ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

. He previously played

and

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname is also used as colloquial designation ...

. Henry attended Trinity Catholic High School in

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

, where he played both football and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

, and competed in

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

. Henry led Trinity Catholic to two conference championships and a runner-up in the 2B State Championship game. He ended his

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

career with over 4,300 total yards and 39 touchdowns. After his senior season, he moved on to

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

where he

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. In his first collegiate appearance, Henry ran for 16-yards against Notre Dame. He would later assume the starting quarterback position after an injury to

Robert Marve Robert Eugene Marve (born February 10, 1989) is a former American football quarterback who played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). As a high school player, Marve was named Mr. Football Award (Florida), Florida' ...

. His first career start was against Northwestern, which saw him lead the Boilermakers to a 20–17 win on the road lead by his career high, 132 yards rushing. Henry went on to start 5 games for the season, with a 3-game set back, which he injured a finger on his throwing hand. Against

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

he had a career-high running for 3 touchdowns. In the final game of the season against

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

he had a career-high 252 yard passing and 3 touchdown passes. He became the first Purdue quarterback to lead the Boilermakers in both passing and rushing yardage in the same season, with 996 passing yards and 547 yards rushing. After a starting quarterback battle in the off season, Henry was named the Boilermakers' starting quarterback for the 2011 season and was voted co-captain, but he tore the ACL in his right knee. With backup Marve still recovering from his owen ACL injury,

Caleb TerBush Caleb Stephen TerBush (born January 5, 1990) is a former American football quarterback. He played for the Purdue University Boilermakers and was briefly signed by the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League from May to August 2013. Hi ...

took over as the starting quarterback in their place. Henry returned in 2012, and was named the third-string quarterback behind TerBush and Marve. To get on the field, the Boilermakers used Henry as both a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

and wide receiver, in addition to quarterbacking. Henry was named the starting quarterback for the Boilermakers during 2013 fall camp. Henry beat out true freshman, Danny Etling, and redshirt freshman,

Austin Appleby Austin Michael Appleby (born June 4, 1993) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current wide receivers coach for the UAB Blazers. He played college football at Purdue University from 2012 to 2015 for coaches Danny Ho ...

. Henry started the first 5 games of the season for the Boilermakers, before being replaced just before halftime during their 5 game of the season by Etling. The week following Henry's removal from quarterback, he was moved to safety.

High school career

Henry went to Trinity Catholic High School in

. There he was coached by John Brantley, and was a Mr. Football finalist and first team all-state after passing for 2,600 yards and 24 touchdowns as senior, while rushing for 350 yards and six touchdowns. He led the Celtics to the 2B state championship game, but lost 21–17 to

Pahokee High School Pahokee High School (also known as Pahokee Junior Senior High School) is a historic school in Pahokee, Florida. It is currently located at 900 Larrimore Road. On November 15, 1996, The old Pahokee High School building on E. Main St. was added t ...

. As a result, he was named to Reebok Florida Phenoms third team. It wasn't clear if he would start as a junior, but he won the battle, and went on to pass for 1,100 yards and 10 touchdowns while also rushing for 250 yards and five scores, while missing some time with a knee injury. He was a two-time all-county selection in football, and led his team to state finals his senior season. As a freshman and sophomore, he played

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

and wide receiver, while

John Brantley John Brantley, IV (born March 3, 1989) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Florida from 2008 to 2011. He was signed by the Baltimore Ravens after going undrafted in the 2012 NFL Draft but was released before ...

was at quarterback. He was a first team all-division his freshman and sophomore seasons. He also participated in basketball and track and field. Henry committed to

on July 23, 2008. He choose Purdue over football scholarships from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

and

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...

College career

2009 season

In 2009, Henry sat for the season using his

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

to learn head coach

Danny Hope Charles Daniel Hope (born January 7, 1959) is an American football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Eastern Kentucky University from 2003 to 2007, and Purdue University from 2009 to 2012, compiling a career colleg ...

's offense.

2010 season

The 2010 season began with Henry slated second on the depth chart behind transfer,

. However, Hope said that Henry would see playing time even if the game was still undecided. Against Notre Dame, Henry only got three carries for 16 yards. After a win against

, he was named the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

Freshman of the Week. He was named the team's Leonard Wilson Award winner (unselfishness and dedication). He was also the first Purdue quarterback in school history to lead the team in both rushing and passing yardage in a season. He completed 86 of 162 pass attempts (53.1 percent) for 996 yards with eight touchdowns and seven interceptions, while rushing for 547 yards and four touchdowns on 104 attempts (5.3 yards per carry). For the season, Henry appeared in 11 games, making seven starts in 2010.

2011 season

After a starting quarterback battle in the off season, Henry was named the Boilermakers' starting quarterback for the 2011 season, but he tore the ACL in his right knee. With backup Marve still recovering from his own ACL injury,

took over as the starting quarterback in their place.

2012 season

Henry entered his junior season looking at splitting playing time with TerBush and Marve. With TerBush working mostly with the first team, he was expected to start the first game of the year, until it was announced (one hour prior to gametime) that he had been suspended and Marve was the starting quarterback. Henry was promoted to second string, seeing most of his action in the second half of play. Henry finished the day 7 for 9 passing for 1 touchdown and 1 interception. After not playing in the Notre Dame game, Henry was named the backup against

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

, as Marve was sidelined with his third ACL tear. Henry played a few plays in the second quarter, before seeing increased playing time in the 3rd quarter due to the Boilermakers large lead. Most of his plays came throwing the ball, as Coach Hope felt that was his largest area in need of improvement.

2013 season

With Marve and TerBush out of the mix due to graduation, and new Purdue head coach

Darrell Hazell Darrell Ivan Hazell (born April 14, 1964) is a former American football college and National Football League (NFL) coach. Hazell has been a head coach twice, with Kent State from 2011 to 2012, and Purdue from 2013 to 2016. A native of Cinnamin ...

, Henry entered fall camp with the Boilermakers competing with freshmen

Danny Etling Daniel Patrick Etling (born July 22, 1994) is an American football quarterback for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Purdue and LSU, and was drafted by the New England Patriots in the se ...

and

for Purdue's starting quarterback spot. Two weeks before the regular season opener at

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Hazell named Henry Purdue's starting quarterback.

Statistics

As of the end of the 2013 regular season, Henry's statistics are as follows: Henry had a 3–9 career record as the starting quarterback for Purdue.

Professional career

Prior to the

2014 NFL Draft The 2014 NFL draft was the 79th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players to the league. The draft, officially the "Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in New Y ...

, Henry was projected to be undrafted by NFLDraftScout.com. He was rated as the thirty-fourth-best quarterback in the draft. On May 10, 2014, Henry signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

Playing style

Henry is a dual-threat quarterback, known more for his ability to run the ball, than for his throwing arm.

References

External links

*
Purdue profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Rob 1990 births Living people American football quarterbacks Purdue Boilermakers football players Players of American football from Florida Sportspeople from Ocala, Florida