Film Don't Lie | Ramon Henderson
If you played a drinking game when watching the 2019 Notre Dame football team, chances are you’d be drunk if you took a shot every time they mentioned Braden Lenzy ran track. It’s not that he isn’t fast, anyone who watched him play could see that, but Lenzy is clearly more than a track guy playing football. He’s a football player that also ran track.
When I watched Ramon Henderson as a junior, he looked like a track guy playing football. Clearly he was fast, but I just didn’t see the other pieces there for him on the field.
Notre Dame saw him in person during the spring and felt he was the kind of player they wanted in their class. I didn’t get to see that from him until watching his senior film, but now I could see what the coaching staff saw. He’s way more than just a fast track guy. He’s a football player and a very talented prospect.
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 185
Projected Position: Cornerback
ISD Grade: 90 (4-star)
National Average Grade: 87.4 (3-star)
What he does best:
Unsurprisingly from the track background, he has great speed. He ran a 10.59 100m as a junior. He can get vertical as a receiver and flip his hips and run deep with just about anybody as a corner. He has long strides and eats up ground quickly.
What separates him as a prospect is the way he tracks the football in the air like he’s an outfielder in baseball. That’s an important skill for a defensive back and something he has proven he can do as a receiver as well.
He has good size to play the cornerback position and plays to that size as a tackler as well. He’ll come up and lay the wood when he gets a chance.
This is a great example of what I was referring to with him as a football player. He’s in man coverage mirroring his receiver and then breaks off of it to get to the open man and break up the play.
That’s an instinctive reaction. Yes, it’s a cliche, but that’s a football play.
What he needs to improve:
Awareness comes with experience and that is something he’ll need to improve. Route recognition can be taught and once he becomes better and that he will take a huge leap with his game.
Overall he’s more of an athlete covering like he’s a defender in basketball. He has a lot of technique work he needs to do and that should help with his transitions.
What’s his ceiling?
Henderson may be the most intriguing athlete out of everyone in Notre Dame's class. He has legit elite speed. That combined with his size and ball skills make it easy to see why the coaching staff wanted him, but he's much better as a receiver than a defensive back right now.
He's raw with his technique, but if the staff can refine his skills at cornerback, his ceiling is sky high. He has NFL potential and the Irish haven’t produced too many NFL cornerbacks in recent years. Henderson has the athletic traits to be an exception by the time he leaves Notre Dame.