HOUSTON – A year ago, LaDarius Henderson endured a slow burn as his entire rookie season was lost to a foot injury that required surgery.
The former seventh-round draft pick and national champion at the University of Michigan missed the season while rehabbing his injury.
Healthy again, Henderson is displaying the potential he showed for the Wolverines as a first-team All-Big Ten Conference selection.
Henderson participated in the Texans’ rookie minicamp Friday as he heads into what’s the equivalent of a do-over of his first NFL season.
“Yeah, very encouraged with LaDarius and how he’s just went about the process,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “Just throughout the offseason, throughout the entire season just seeing LaDarius show up every day, smile on his face, having that joy.
“He gives me energy just seeing him in the building how excited he is to just work, get better, weight room, on the field. We wanted to get him out here in the rookie minicamp because he didn’t have this time last year, just get on the field.”
Signed to a four-year, $4.103 million deal that includes an $83,716 signing bonus, Henderson (6-4, 309 pounds) became an immediate starter at Michigan after transferring from Arizona State.
Although he has a background at tackle as a 10-game starter at left tackle for Michigan, Henderson, a native of Waxhachie selected 249th overall last year, is playing guard primarily.
“Trying to get him just the extra time to get out, get some coaching sessions with offensive line coach-run game coordinator] coach [Cole] Popovich and he’s doing a great job so far,” Ryans said. “I’m just excited to see how this journey continues to go for him because it’s definitely headed in the right direction and he’s done everything the right way, everything you could possibly do to put yourself in position to have a successful year, he’s done that.”
Henderson bench pressed 225 pounds 22 times for NFL scouts and had a 4.72 short shuttle.
When Ryans was drafted, Texans general manager Nick Caserio brought up his versatility.
“Specific to Henderson, he has experience maybe more inside than outside,” Caserio said last year after the draft. “He was at Arizona State, played some guard. We think Henderson can probably play inside, with the ability to bump out the tackle, like we talked about a little bit, tackle-centric and tackle-focused.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com
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