High School

NFL Draft bridges champion TreVeyon Henderson’s journey from Virginia high school hero to game's highest level

Once a high school football sensation in Virginia, Ohio State's TreVeyon Henderson now stands on the edge of NFL stardom as one of the top running back prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft

Levi Payton

Ohio State Buckeyes running back TreVeyon Henderson (32) holds the trophy following the 34-23 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to win the College Football Playoff National Championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Jan. 21, 2025.
Ohio State Buckeyes running back TreVeyon Henderson (32) holds the trophy following the 34-23 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to win the College Football Playoff National Championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Jan. 21, 2025. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

TreVeyon Henderson has experienced a lot of what football has to offer. He’s been the nation’s top recruit, a five-star recruit, an All-American, and he won two high school state championships and a college football national championship.

But later this week, the game will offer him an opportunity at its highest achievement: TreVeyon Henderson will receive a call welcoming him to the National Football League.

Henderson is one of the 2025 NFL Draft’s most coveted running backs. Not long ago, he was the country’s most coveted high school running back.

COVID robbed him of his senior year when Virginia was forced to move its 2020 football season to the spring of 2021. Hopewell High School ended up going 4-2 that spring without him, and that might have been the only thing that kept he and the Blue Devils from winning their third state championship.

They were coming off a 15-0 campaign and a 35-7 win over Lord Betetourt in the Virginia Class 3 championship with Henderson as their lead back. All he did that season was amass 3,195 of the Blue Devils’ 7,225 all-purpose yards and accounted for 54 of the team’s 93 touchdowns. He also scored four touchdowns in that state title game.

It was his second state championship. The Blue Devils also won it during Henderson’s freshman season. He wasn’t playing running back then. Instead, he contributed as a standout free safety who finished fourth on the team with 82 tackles, including 65 solo and five tackles for loss, while also deflecting five passes, intercepting two, causing one fumble and recovering another. He also was listed as a wide receiver, making two catches for 30 yards.

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You see, Henderson did a little bit of everything for the Blue Devils during his three seasons at Hopewell.

During their championship run in 2019, the junior running back averaged 12.2 yards per carry while rushing for 2,424 yards and 45 touchdowns on 198 carries. He also pulled down 18 receptions for 283 yards and five touchdowns and even passed for a 1-yard touchdown on his only attempt.

He also had three special teams touchdowns – scoring twice on kickoffs and once on a punt return. Still excelling on defense, he chipped in 48 tackles (41 solo, three for loss), one sack, three interceptions, defended three passes and recovered a fumble.

After switching to running back during his 2018-2019 sophomore season, Henderson averaged 10.4 yards per carry and finished third in rushing at Hopewell. He had 312 yards on 30 carries in 11 games. Junior Kaiveon Cox (66 carries, 532 yards in 11 games) and fellow sophomore Robert Briggs (108 carries, 789 yards in eight games) finished ahead of him that year.

He was named Virginia’s Gatorade Player of the Year for the 2019 season and by Jan. 2021, before Hopewell’s seniors got a chance to play their delayed spring football season, he was already enrolled at Ohio State.

We can say it all worked out for Henderson now. The 5-foot-10, 202-pound back used his 4.43 speed to house a 70-yard touchdown catch in his first game against Minnesota as a freshman, then rushed for 277 yards and three touchdowns in only his third game with the Buckeyes.

TreVeyon Henderson: Ohio State football
Nov 18, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes running back TreVeyon Henderson (32) gets a block from wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (2) on his way to the endzone during the NCAA football game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Ohio Stadium. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

That performance broke Ohio State’s freshman single-game rushing record, held by legendary Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin, and earned him Big Ten Freshman of the Week and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors.

He went on to also play in 13 games and drew 11 starts during his freshman season. He rushed for 1,248 yards on 183 carries with 15 touchdowns and hauled in 27 catches for 312 yards and four scores. His 19 combined touchdowns set a record for Ohio State freshmen.

Of course, Henderson was a vital part of Ohio State’s national championship this past season. He started nine of 16 games and rushed for 1,016 yards on 144 carries with 10 touchdowns. He also had 27 receptions for 284 yards and one touchdown.

TreVeyon Henderson: Ohio State football
Jan 10, 2025; Arlington, TX, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes running back TreVeyon Henderson (32) scores a touchdown on a pass from quarterback Will Howard (not pictured) during the second quarter at AT&T Stadium. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Later this week, Henderson is expected to receive a phone call from an NFL team and a new chapter of his career will begin. Hopewell’s standout freshman state champion free safety will likely be one of the first running backs chosen by the NFL this year – a possible first- or second-round pick.

When that happens, he’ll become only the third football player from Hopewell to reach the NFL, joining current Houston Texans defensive end Darrell Taylor and former Denver Broncos defensive tackle Monsanto Pope.

Henderson will be silently competing with Taylor to become Hopewell’s highest ever draft pick. Taylor was selected in the second round of the 2020 draft, pick No. 48 overall, by the Seattle Seahawks.

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Levi Payton
LEVI PAYTON

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