Central Texas Football Legend Othello Henderson #9 (Green Jersey)
Othello Henderson, a 1990 graduate of C.E. Ellison High School (Killeen, Texas), exemplified the perfect example of a "big time," hard working blue chip student-athlete. Initially, Othello was not seen as the athlete that high school coaches were anticipating to get coming out of middle school. He started out on the Freshman B team for the Eagles and the next year played on the junior varsity before sheer guts and determination elevated him to a back up role on the varsity as a high school sophmore. By the end of that year, he hit a growth spurt and shot up to 6'2" and 200 lbs., which prompted his high school coaches to utilize him on both sides of the ball.
In his junior year, the primary position he was known for was free safety, where he developed a reputation as a "bruising hitter" and had the innate ability to utilize his 4.31 speed in making tackles behind the line of scrimmage, without blitzing. Henderson amassed 92 tackles, 5 interceptions, 8 pass break ups, and 2 punt returns for TD's, helping the Eagles finish with a 6-4 record, just missing the postseason. Later in the spring of his junior year, he ran on one of nation's top 4x100 relay teams in track & field, which the Eagles clocked a time of 40.43 seconds in addition to his 13.62 time in the 110-meter hurdles. Not surprisingly, Othello began receiving interest letters from Division 1 programs (in both sports) such as Nebraska, Texas A&M, Texas, Miami, LSU, Florida, Tennessee, Notre Dame, and UCLA. After having such a strong junior year, he would be fueled to play at an even higher level as a senior due to him not being recognized in Texas Football Magazine as one of the state's top 15 defensive backs.
During his senior campaign in the fall of 1989, Henderson compiled 110 tackles, 4 interceptions, and 10 pass break ups. Playing double-duty on offense, he lined up at receiver and wingback catching 8 passes for 242 yards and 4 TD's, and rushing the ball 30 times for over 200 yards and 5 TD's in helping the Eagles to their only 10-0 regular season record in school history. His big playmaking ability on defense along with his stats ranked him as the top recruited free safety prospect in America and was selected to the USA Today Newspaper All-American Team with the likes of future college sensations Chris Weinke, Andre Hastings, and Robert Smith. In addition, he was invited to play in the East-West Shrine Classic, earning MVP honors in a contest that also featured Drew Bledsoe, Jerome Bettis, and Hastings.
He capped off his senior athletic campaign in track & field by running a best of 13.28 in the 110-meter hurdles, running a leg on the winning Texas Relays 4x100 relay team in 40.94, and being part of the Eagles' national record setting shuttle-hurdle relay team in 57.20. Most importantly, he graduated high school with a 3.5 GPA and scored over 1,000 on two sections of the SAT test. He signed a National Letter of Intent to attend UCLA where he had a outstanding career as an All-Pac Ten Conference free safety. After college, he graduated to the professional ranks and enjoyed stints with the New Orleans Saints, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Green Bay Packers. Today, he is an educaitonal speaker for the National Collegiate Scouting Association.
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