Editor’s note: Nevada Sports Net alum Julian Del Gaudio, now at Fox 5 San Diego, recently caught up with Nevada football product and Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley before the start of the NFL season. Below is a portion of that interview.

Daiyan Henley is Los Angeles born and bred. But the Nevada Wolf Pack product who’s entering his third season in the NFL never dreamed of playing for a pro team in Los Angeles.

“Twelve-year-old Daiyan didn’t have an L.A. team, so to him this is impossible,” said Henley, a member of the Los Angeles Chargers. “It’s just about getting to the NFL and playing football. But to tell him, ‘Hey, you’re playing in L.A., you’re a hometown kid and you get to play in your hometown and make your family proud,’ it’s a surreal moment. Every day I wake up I’m just blessed and grateful and pray on it to just keep it going.”

The Crenshaw High alum finished eighth in the NFL last year in tackles in just his second season in the league and first as a starter. A third-round draft pick the year prior, Henley established himself as one of the NFL’s most productive linebackers while helping the Chargers reach the playoffs. Now, he wants more.

“I think the dedication to chase my best, never becoming satisfied,” Henley said of his offseason focus. “I think that mentality was pushing me to keep going and to make more strides to be better. When you get complacent and hear how good you’ve been doing, that’s when you kind of fall off.”

Starting all 17 games last season, the 25-year-old Henley had 147 tackles, including seven for loss. He added an interception and a sack while breaking up eight passes and earning rave reviews from his head coach Jim Harbaugh.

“He was playing at shining star status last year, and no doubt he’s headed to superstar,” Harbaugh said. “Right on track for that. He’s a five-tool linebacker. He can cover, can blitz, can fill the gap, he can run sideline to sideline. He can call the defense. He can do it all.”

Henley credit his five seasons at Nevada for preparing him for the NFL. He came to the Wolf Pack as an offensive player, eventually moving from wide receiver to safety to linebacker where he broke out in 2021. He transferred to Washington State for his second senior season in 2022, following ex-Nevada defensive coordinator Brian Ward to the Cougars where he blossomed into an All-American.

Henley said he hasn’t forgotten his college roots in Reno.

“From just a growth standpoint, that was me becoming a man, getting to college,” Henley said. “And then from just the football and the friendships and the bonds that I built, first of all, that is a lovely city that not a lot of people know about. When you say you went to Nevada, they think of Las Vegas. But it’s Reno, and I’m so proud of it. It’s a part of me. It’s part of my culture, it’s part my history, and I am forever proud.”

A prep quarterback, Henley turned that lone scholarship offer out of high school into an NFL career. And now that’s he one of the league’s bright young defensive stars, he wants more, and that starts with a Pro Bowl berth.

“That’s what I’m chasing,” Henley said. “I can’t stamp anything in the media these days because you know how it is. But for me, that’s what I’m chasing.”

You can watch the full feature on Daiyan Henley below.