Henry Earns Redemption, Respect As "Team-First Guy"
Thursday, November 4, 2010 | Football, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – From his seat in the northeast corner of EverBank Field on Saturday, David Henry watched as his son lined up for the most important field goal of his life.
Despite what had happened two weeks earlier, David was relatively calm in the middle of an electric atmosphere at the annual Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville.
“I had a great feeling he was going to make it, especially when they called a timeout,'' David said. “I didn't know anything about the choke situation at the time. His back was to me from where I was sitting, but to me, it looked like he was pretty confident.''
On the field, Gators senior Chas Henry kept his right leg loose with practice swings as the team huddled nearby. When play resumed, Henry drilled the 37-yard attempt through the uprights, lifting Florida to a 34-31 win over Georgia in the first overtime game of the long and storied rivalry.
Florida coach Urban Meyer called the victory the most meaningful of his career, a win that snapped the Gators' three-game losing streak and kept their SEC East title hopes alive.
“It was a good moment,'' Meyer said. “He's become better and better because he is a great kid, a hard worker and a competitor.''
As Chas ran around the field and celebrated with his teammates, the orange-and-blue side of the stadium cheered wildly. On the red-and-black Georgia side, dejected Bulldogs fans could only look on in disbelief.
Taking it all in, David Henry, hugging his wife Judy, was finally overcome by the moment.
“It was phenomenal. I was probably shaking more after the kick,'' David said Thursday. “I couldn't even hold my phone still.''
THE PEP TALK
Henry's game-winning field goal made for a much more enjoyable Saturday night than two weeks earlier when he missed a 42-yard attempt that would have tied the game in the final seconds of Florida's 10-7 home loss to Mississippi State.
David Henry was in the stands at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium that night as well, taking in the game with a friend. Judy opted to spend the weekend with the couple's daughter in Washington, D.C. It was probably for the best considering Chas' mood following the disappointing loss.
“He was crushed,'' David said. “He just felt like he not only let himself down, but he let everyone else down.''
After the game, David and Chas had a heartfelt father-and-son talk. A former quarterback and punter in high school like Chas, David could relate to the emotions tackling his son in the immediate aftermath of his most disappointing moment as an athlete.
Chas gets a lot of his competitiveness from his dad. When they are at home in northwest Georgia, they often hit the golf course together. They play with one purpose in mind: to beat each other.
“He has always been a competitor,'' David said. “He gets upset when he loses. He tries to be a perfectionist. He gets upset when he hits a bad golf shot.''
But on the night of Chas' missed kick, David wanted only to play the role of supportive parent.
“I told him after he missed the kick against Mississippi State that this isn't devastating,'' David said. “In two days, two months, two years, everybody will forget this. They'll know they lost, but they'll forget how they lost.
“Devastation is when you turn around and you've got two kids and you've got a mortgage and you've got a car payment like a lot of people, and all of a sudden the company says, 'You're job has been eliminated.' That gets to be devastation. Missing a field goal and looking at the big picture in life is not the worst thing that is going to happen to you. It's probably going to be worse than missing a field goal.''
David made the six-hour drive back home the day after the game, but he kept in touch with Chas throughout the week to make sure his spirits remained high. Soon, he could tell Chas would be just fine.
So could Meyer, who watched Henry kick seven field goals without a miss at practice on the Thursday before the Georgia game. The nation's leading punter with a 48.8-yard average, Henry has filled in the past four games for regular kicker Caleb Sturgis, hitting 4 of 8 field goals.
Meyer said Henry's performance under difficult circumstances has been rewarding to see considering that very few punters and kickers are forced to do both these days.
“In the old days they usually did them both,'' Meyer said. “It's much more difficult nowadays because there is such a focus on your job description. One thing about Chas, he also played quarterback in high school. He's an athlete and athletes usually have a tendency to be able to adapt much quicker than non-athletes.''
THE REDEMPTION KICK
The Georgia game didn't start out nearly as well as it ended for Henry. He missed a 42-yard kick in the first half, the maximum distance Meyer planned to use him from. The kick was his fourth consecutive miss after he made a pair of field goals in his placekicking debut at Alabama on Oct. 2.
However, Henry's 34-yard field goal in the second half gave Florida a 24-16 lead and helped set the stage for the overtime drama.
Taking over at Georgia's 25 following an interception by Will Hill on Georgia's opening drive of overtime, Henry walked onto the field four plays later for another pressure-packed kick.
“There was no doubt in my mind that we were making this kick and we were going to win,'' Henry said.
Were his teammates concerned?
“I told you all last game that we were behind him miss it, make it, hit the posts,'' freshman quarterback Trey Burton said. “I knew he was going to make that. I had no doubt in my mind. I'm real proud of him. It's awesome for him and his family.''
As everyone knows by now, Henry not only made the kick, but he had some fun with Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham beforehand. During the timeout, Grantham gave Henry the choke gesture and yelled at him in an attempt to rattle him.
“I started laughing, like, 'You're going to ice me? I'm not even the kicker,' '' Henry said following Wednesday's practice. “So I start looking and I see the guy doing the choke. I look at him again and he goes like, 'You're going to choke.' So I take my helmet off and I gave him a little smooch. I blew him a little kiss.”
Henry is amused at all the fuss Grantham's gesture caused this week on fan message boards and in the media.
“I think it's ridiculous that people are trying to say, 'Oh, he should have to apologize for it and everything.' It's just an intense game.''
While Henry's field goal put him in the headlines – Henry said his “Facebook messages have gone through the roof” -- his punting is what could land him in the NFL. In six SEC games, Henry is averaging 50.7 yards per punt.
He is only one of three punters in the country to have four punts of 60 or more yards this season, joining Oklahoma State's Quinn Sharp and Kansas' Alonso Rojas. With Sturgis still out, Henry will once again handle the placekicking duties Saturday at Vanderbilt.
Meyer calls Henry's role “a tremendous value'' to the team.
“He is a team-first guy. He will do anything for this football team, and he happens to be the best punter in college football,'' Meyer said. “He really earned that [game-winning kick].''
