Thomas Emmett Hendricks, III (born October 23, 1978) 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 wi ...

player. He played college football as a defensive back for the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1996 to 1999 and was a member of the undefeated

1997 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1997 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1997 Big Ten Conference football season. In its third year under head coach Lloyd Carr, Michigan compiled a perfect 12–0 record, won the Big Ten Conferen ...

that was ranked #1 in the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

. He later played professional football as a backup

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, ...

and

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

player in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

from

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

to 2003 and the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

during the 2004 season.

Early years

Hendricks was born in Houston, Texas, in 1978. He attended Scarborough High School and Eisenhower High School, both in Houston. He became known as one of the best high school defensive backs in the country while playing for Eisenhower.

University of Michigan

Hendricks' father, Thomas Hendricks, Jr., played college football as a halfback at the

from 1953 to 1955. Hendricks committed to Michigan in February 1996. He enrolled in the fall of 1996 and played college football as a defensive back for head coach

Lloyd Carr Lloyd Henry Carr Jr. (born July 30, 1945) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Michigan from 1995 through the 2007 season. Under Carr, the Michigan Wolverines compiled a record ...

's Michigan Wolverines football teams from 1996 to 1999. As a sophomore, Hendricks started all 12 games at free safety for the undefeated

that outscored opponents 322–144, won the

Big Ten Conference 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 ...

championship, defeated

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

in the

1998 Rose Bowl The 1998 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game, part of the 1997–98 college bowl season, played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The 84th Rose Bowl Game, it featured top-ranked Michigan beating Washington State 21 ...

, and was ranked #1 in the final

. Hendricks also started all 13 games at free safety for Michigan during the 1998 season, and completed a 37-game streak by starting all 12 games at strong safety for the 1999 Michigan team. He was selected by the conference coaches as a first-team defensive back on the

1999 All-Big Ten Conference football team The 1999 All-Big Ten Conference football team consists of American football players chosen as All-Big Ten Conference players for the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season. The conference recognizes two official All-Big Ten selectors: (1) the Big ...

. In four years at Michigan, Hendricks started 37 games and registered 222

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

, 12 pass breakups and three

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

s.(to retrieve Hendricks' statistics, enter "hendricks" in the box for the player's last name)

Professional football

Hendricks was undrafted in the

2000 NFL Draft The 2000 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur U.S. college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 15– 16, 2000, at the Thea ...

. He signed as a free agent with the

where he was converted to a

but cut before the start of the 2000 season. One month after being cut, Miami linebacker

Zach Thomas Zachary Michael Thomas (born September 1, 1973) is an American former professional football player who was a middle linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons. He played college football for Texas Tech University, and was ...

was injured, and Hendricks was re-signed. He was released again a week after being re-signed, joined the Dolphins' developmental squad, and was eventually promoted to the 53-man roster later in 2000. He appeared in eight games in 2000, mostly on special teams. In his second season with the Dolphins, Hendricks switched from weakside linebacker to middle linebacker. He appeared in all 16 games and got his first start at linebacker following another injury to Zach Thomas. He remained with the Dolphins through the 2003 season, appearing in 56 games, three of them as a starter. He was the team's top backup

and a

player. He led the team in special teams tackles in 2001 with 30, 2002 with 26 and 2003. He also served as the team's special teams captain for three seasons from 2001 to 2003. Hendricks played for the

during the 2004 season, appearing in 15 games. He started one game at linebacker for the Jaguars.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Later Years

Tommy Hendricks now resides in Houston, TX and is now a music producer that has released instrumental albums under the name Hendricks Beats.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hendricks, Tommy 1978 births American football linebackers Jacksonville Jaguars players Living people Miami Dolphins players Michigan Wolverines football players