ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It’s been a lot of change for Michigan offensive tackle LaDarius Henderson.
The first incoming transfer of the offseason came in so early it wasn’t even really the offseason yet. Announcing his commitment to the Wolverines on Dec. 6, 2022 after spending his career at Arizona State, Henderson had hoped to come in and play left tackle with incumbent Ryan Hayes set to depart for the NFL. However, he’s only made it into the first two games during garbage time before finally getting his chance once the Wolverines reshuffled the line midgame.
So, while he didn’t get the opportunity to start right away as he perhaps figured earlier on, the Texas native stayed ready, knowing he would eventually be called upon.
“That’s my life,” Henderson said. “I started playing football in 11th grade and I got the opportunity to start as a true freshman (in college). And I didn’t start the year off starting. But just staying prepared and trying to be a pro and just getting better every day. I feel like great things happen where you just try to get better every day. So that’s been my focus is getting better every day. And it’s been a lot of fun. And I feel like I’m getting better.”
Henderson knew that a role wasn’t going to be given to him. Having played guard for the Sun Devils, he came to Ann Arbor having a pretty good idea that Trevor Keegan and Zak Zinter would likely run it back for one more season — and he ended up being correct. Still, he made the decision to come, knowing that competition would be fierce.
However, that’s the price you pay when you join a unit that won the award for the best in the country, the Joe Moore Award, two-years running. He feels that the opportunity to compete makes him better.
“I feel like God led me here, to be completely honest,” Henderson said. “But I knew if I was gonna go back to college I wanted to go play with the best offensive line — so what guys are better than these guys? So that’s what I wanted to do and I was like, hey, if my mindset was if I’m not good enough to play with these guys then you got to dig deeper, look within yourself, ‘I got some getting better to do,’ which is never a bad thing to realize. You got to get better.”
Regardless of how the competition shakes out, Henderson is glad to have ended up in Ann Arbor. Compared to his previous stop, there’s been one big surprise he didn’t quite count on.
“How much people actually care about football and Michigan!” Henderson said. “People care about Michigan football! At other places, you guys know where I’ve been, I can go around Tempe people don’t really care that much. It’s true. Like, ‘You play for who?’ So it’s like here people know who you are, people want to see the blue win and I love that. These fans are awesome!”
Fans will get another opportunity to see Henderson in action on Saturday when Michigan football opens up Big Ten play against Rutgers. The game will kick off at noon EDT and will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.