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Editor’s Note: Derrick Henry is No. 6 on the Times-Union’s Top 100 list of athletes from the Jacksonville area.
Drive along U.S. Highway 1 south from the Georgia line, and the bold-lettered sign is unmistakable.
“Welcome to Yulee, Home of Derrick Henry, 2015 Heisman Trophy winner.”
For many, the 30-year-old running back is the man who has put Northeast Florida’s northernmost border county on the football map. Set a national high school rushing record (12,124 yards) and a host of state and regional marks, bring home a Heisman Trophy, hoist an NCAA championship trophy at Alabama, win two NFL rushing titles, surpass the single-season 2,000-yard barrier, and it’s all but inevitable.
But the hometown impact goes beyond the stats on the career list for Henry, the No. 6 all-time selection — and perhaps still climbing — on the Times-Union’s Jax Greatest 100 list that highlights the best athletes in Northeast Florida history.
Henry is far from the only standout athlete in Nassau County’s history. On the football field, former Clemson All-American tailback and Super Bowl champion Terrence Flagler (Fernandina Beach) and former Miami Dolphins running back Daniel Thomas (Hilliard) have both starred as ball carriers. There’s Howie Kendrick in baseball, Bubba Dickerson in golf, Deebo Coleman in basketball, new Olympian Poe Pinson in skateboarding, and many more.
But nobody else has drawn small armies of football reporters to Nassau County the way Henry did during the amazing autumn of 2012, when Henry chased down and ultimately overtook the national rushing record of Ken Hall, a mark that stood for 59 years.
It was must-see football, week in, week out, including a state-record 502-yard game on Sept. 21, 2012. And it put Yulee on the map.
Few had a front-row view quite like former Yulee head coach Bobby Ramsay, who directed the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/derrick-henry-put-yulee-sports-090104631.html
Author : The Florida Times-Union
Publish date : 2024-08-11 09:01:04
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