Razorback Roster Rundown: No. 27 Hayden Henry

This article is part of a series previewing the Razorbacks’ 2020 football roster.

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Despite coming to Arkansas as a two-star recruit, Hayden Henry was among a handful of freshmen to burn their redshirt in 2017. He was quickly moved from safety to linebacker, but he made his biggest impact on special teams that year.

Henry played just four defensive snaps, but his 150 special teams snaps as a freshman were the seventh most on the team. He was on the kickoff return and coverage teams, as well as the punt return unit.

The last two years, though, Henry has cracked the depth chart on defense and has even been listed as the first-team strong-side linebacker. However, because of the Razorbacks’ frequent use of the nickel package, that meant he started only one game over that span, but he did play 313 total defensive snaps.

That start came against Texas A&M his sophomore year, when he finished the season with 24 tackles. Henry followed that up by making 31 tackles - including 2.5 for loss and one sack - and notching two pass breakups and a forced fumble as a junior last season.

According to Pro Football Focus, he earned grades of 63.7 on 115 snaps and 65.6 on 198 snaps in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Special teams continued to be a big part of Henry’s game, as well. He played a team-high 295 special teams snaps as a sophomore and 167 - which ranked fifth on the team - as a junior.

In what feels like a yearly tradition, linebacker depth has been a frequent topic of discussion this offseason. De’Jon Harris has graduated, leaving a pretty big hole in the unit.

Bumper Pool figures to be a starter once again and take over that leadership role, but everything else is still up in the air. The Razorbacks are counting on Oklahoma graduate transfer Levi Draper - a former four-star recruit who played sparingly for the Sooners - to also fill the void created by Harris’ departure.

Young guys like Andrew Parker, Zach Zimos and Kelin Burrle are extremely inexperienced, so veterans like Henry and former walk-on Grant Morgan will be critical in providing depth and bringing them along.

If nothing else, Henry will almost certainly continue to be a key player on special teams. As an Arkansas native who very clearly bleeds Razorback red, he’ll value any opportunity to get on the field and make the most of it his senior year.

Unlike his older and younger brother, both of whom where four-star tight ends, Hayden was not a highly recruited prospect coming out of Pulaski Academy in Little Rock.

Despite putting up solid numbers, leading the Bruins to three straight state titles and earning multiple Player of the Year honors, he was just a 5.4 two-star recruit on Rivals. His only FBS offers were from service academies - Air Force and Navy - with his others being either regional FCS teams (UCA, Missouri State) or in-state Division II programs (Harding, Ouachita Baptist).

Henry narrowed his list of scholarship offers down to Air Force, but it wasn’t enough for him to turn down an opportunity to be a blueshirt for the Razorbacks and follow in the footsteps of his father - former All-SWC center Mark Henry - and older brother - former All-American tight end Hunter Henry. That meant he was a walk-on for his freshman season, but was placed on scholarship the following spring and counted toward the 2018 class instead of 2017.

MORE: Razorback Roster Rundown