27-Year-Old Tristan Henderson Won't Quit on NFL Dream
The road to the NFL is a grueling process that brings most men to their knees long before they ever get close. The sport is demanding at any level of competition, but to play at the highest level imaginable requires a grit and determination that, for some, may take a lifetime to develop. For Tristan Henderson, his winding road through an unusual football life has helped him acquire the inner strength necessary to finally (and quite unexpectedly) arrive at the doorstep of a professional football career after 27 years.
Though the next chapter of the Henderson story has yet to be written, we can take a look back at the unique journey that made him the symbol of a dying football program and an inspiration to anyone who thought it was too late to follow their heart.
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This Tuesday, at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, the school will be holding what is likely to be its last NFL pro day as it prepares to pull the plug on the football program for good.
Attending the pro day will be 27-year-old NFL hopeful and former UAB tight end Tristan Henderson. In terms of his chances of receiving an opportunity at the next level, Henderson is well aware how vital this upcoming date is to his NFL future—which is why he’s been training down in Alabama without the guidance of an agent or a fancy facility to optimize his predraft preparation.
Instead, he has been going about this predraft process in the same manner he approaches life in general—in his own way.
Humbled, broke and left facing the real world for the first time in his life, the NFL was the last thing on Henderson's mind back in 2007 after graduating from Los Alamitos High School in Southern California.
His high school exploits on the field were not enough to generate any attention from colleges. He received no scholarship offers, and even if he did, he hadn't performed up to par in the classroom anyway.
“I figured football was over for me after high school,” Henderson told Bleacher Report. “I was working at Target and living with some friends, struggling to pay the rent."
At that point in his life, he was a kid making immature choices while trying to figure out what to do next. It came down to a decision between going to a junior college to play football or enlisting in the military.
The choice was fairly easy for him, considering he had no financial support outside of his own pocket. Besides, trying to remain financially afloat on a Target salary while juggling school and football just didn’t seem feasible for him.
“Living in California was hard to make a living,” he added.” So, for me and some of the guys I knew, it was extremely tough. The military was an automatic paycheck.”
He would end up serving an 18-month split tour in Iraq as a military police officer. When he returned, he weighed about 211 pounds and was in pretty good shape at 6’2”. However, he still lacked focus in his life.
“I was high-strung coming out of the military. My wife, who I’d known since high school, said I came back a little crazy.”
He was passing the time working as a bouncer for a bar when he experienced a major tragedy in his life. One of his best friends committed suicide, which deeply affected Henderson.
“I got depressed. Started eating as a way to comfort myself,” he said.
By the time he made the decision to play football at Cerritos, he had eaten his way beyond 250 pounds.
Eventually, his wife would play a big role when he needed her most.
“She settled me down. I slowly but surely changed certain things about my life,” he said.
He spent his first year at Cerritos getting into football shape and seeing some action at tight end as part of a multiplayer rotation.
Henderson, who had just become a first-time father to a baby boy, saw football as a practical means to an end for a free education.
“I realized going into my sophomore season that I could get a free education out of football. Through the season, my coaches kept telling me where I needed to get better,” he added. “Coming up in junior college, my first coach was an offensive line coach. He taught me how to block like an offensive lineman using my footwork. I’m also a real ‘headsy’ guy when I block.”
He describes this trait as his best asset on the football field.
By the end of his sophomore season, he had heard from a few schools like Fresno State and USC. He took a recruiting trip to Texas State, where he and his wife both loved it. So he committed there.
Unfortunately, Texas State would later drop its scholarship offer out of fear that Henderson's eligibility might have started earlier than originally thought. However, Arkansas State and UAB were still interested.
“They treated me well at Arkansas State, but I didn’t feel it would be right for my son and wife. My wife is in the medical field and UAB had a good program for that, so we decided to go to UAB.”
When he first arrived at UAB, the NCAA wouldn’t permit him to work out with the team until it could sort out his eligibility issues.
During that time, he was working at a country club, trying to help support his wife and kid.
It wasn’t until the week before the first game against Troy that the NCAA approved his eligibility and allowed him to join the team. By then, he had become overweight.
“I came in at around 270 pounds,” he recalled. “I wasn’t keeping up with the rest of my teammates and I hadn’t run at all before.”
Out of shape and with just a few practices under his belt, Henderson would end up making his UAB debut against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium, no less.
It’s hard to imagine what it would be like to be thrown out there against one of the most dominant football programs in the country when you're out of shape and have no experience with Division I football at all. Henderson went on to describe his first game like it took place last week.
“Driving to the stadium, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness!’ I was so scared, I was nervous,” he said. “These guys are more experienced than me, they’re faster than me. When I went into the locker room, I saw my jersey for the first time, hanging there on my locker.”
After he got hit a few times during warm-ups, the fear started to subside, and the experience became much more fun.
“I didn’t know the plays very well, but I gave it my all,” he said. “I wasn’t getting completely run over. On one play, I knocked a guy on his butt, and then I got knocked on my butt right after that. I realized in that game I could go strength-for-strength with these guys.”
That first year at UAB was tough for Henderson. He was forced to learn on the fly while also trying to get in shape and catch up with the rest of the teammates.
When asked what the transition from junior college to Division I football was like, he had this to say:
“The speed is the first thing I noticed. In junior college, people are more focused on themselves. Coming to UAB, I could see the teammates were less separated than at a JC, where everyone is focused on themselves. The training was also more difficult. We didn’t do anything close to what we did at Cerritos compared to what we did at UAB.”
Alabama-Birmingham would go on to finish 2-10 his first year, which unfortunately was par for the course for the program. That led to the firing of head coach Garrick McGee, who went 5-19 in his two seasons with the Blazers.
In summarizing that first year, Henderson said, “I did some good things, now I got to get better at them. McGee let the guys be what we were. Instead of showing how to lead, he let guys do it themselves. A leader has to learn from somebody, and I think that was what the problem was for us my first year here at UAB.”
Year 2 at UAB saw the arrival of new head coach Bill Clark.
“When coach Clark got here, all the cliques went away, the shame associated with the program went away,” he said. “We started believing in ourselves. He taught us that we have to believe in ourselves. It helped. Going into May, usually a lot of schools get time off in May; we stayed on campus and worked out that whole time.”
Between January and June, Henderson lost 35 pounds, getting down to about 250 and in “the best shape of my life.”
His tight end coach, who was one of the only holdovers from the first coaching staff, had him write down his goals for the summer. “I wanted to lose weight, be faster and worked on that and my leadership going into fall camp. That motivated me,” Henderson said.
During that offseason, he focused on football like never before. He stayed after practice catching balls and adapted to the perfectionist mindset of coach Clark. “I tried my best to lead by example,” he added.
Just before fall camp, the players took a vote for one person whom they wanted to be the leader of the team. They voted for Henderson.
UAB would go on to have its best season since 2004, finishing bowl-eligible with a 6-6 record.
According to Henderson, the team had been aware that the future of the program was in jeopardy. He claimed this uncertainty caused the team to fight harder under the impression that winning games would save the program.
Evidence that the program was underfunded or financially mismanaged was everywhere, according to Henderson. He described the facilities to be in horrible condition:
“It [the facilities] was 100 percent underfunded; the people who controlled that locker room didn’t do what was right. The shower ceilings were peeling off and falling, there were lockers breaking, old carpets that smelled terrible. The equipment room was in poor condition and was located across the street from our practice facilities, so we would have to walk all the way over there.”
Despite their success, school president Ray Watts held a meeting with the players to tell them after commissioning an inspection of the athletic budget and revenue, UAB had decided to shut down the football program in order to save money.
For the dozens of kids in that room who were hearing this for the first time, emotions ran high.
Henderson said he became angry after the kicker, Ty Long, stood up and was explaining to Watts that they had never seen him around; never at a game. Then, Watts told Long that he could no longer speak.
“I thought that was wrong,” Henderson said.
Henderson then stood up and delivered some passionate words to Watts that someone was recording. The video ended up going viral.
He divulged what caused him to speak his mind that day:
“Then, all the hard work started running through my mind, and trying to put this school on the map. I was hurt by what he was saying and what was going on. I had stuff on my chest and had to let it out. I didn’t think it was going to be or turn into what it did turn into. A lot of the younger guys wanted to get up and leave or fight. They didn’t know how to express themselves.”
Despite the negative ending to his collegiate career, Henderson remains prideful of his school and looks back on his time at UAB with fond memories.
“I’m always going to be a proud Blazer. What we did this year was amazing," he said.
So, what’s next for the man who eventually grew into an inspiring leader for his teammates and a tough, disciplined football player?
At 27 years old, is he too old to think about the NFL?
Over the years, his love for football has only increased. He relishes everything about it—the pain, the injuries. Football is his passion.
When asked how good he thought he could be in the NFL, he responded, “I know I’m not the fastest guy, but I can be the smartest guy out there. I think I can be really good.”
He believes his age can be an advantage.
If he is to succeed in the NFL, it will likely be as an undrafted free agent. Henderson's road to NFL success is bound to be full of obstacles. The odds of success can be daunting. But sometimes, it takes a man a little longer than others to find his greatness. Perhaps Henderson has found the key to his.
Note: All quotes obtained directly from Henderson via phone interview unless stated otherwise.
Ryan Riddle is a former NFL player who writes for Bleacher Report.
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