GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Dan Mullen and his staff preach about the 'Gator Standard.' While the coaches want their players to leave up to that motto, one player on the roster embodies it, CJ Henderson.
“He works hard, he competes,” defensive coordinator Todd Grantham told reporters back in November. “When you talk about Gator Standard, he has what we want from that perspective.”
A few months later and Grantham is doubling down on his earlier assessment of the South Florida native.
“The guy’s great. He makes plays on the ball," Grantham said. "He is the best guy I’ve ever coached at that position."
Torrian Gray, who recruited Henderson before leaving Florida for the Washington Redskins, could not agree more.
"It's unbelievable how talented he is, but really how coachable he is, and how he has tried to grasp the stuff that you are telling him - it doesn't take a lot of repeat reps," said the Florida corners coach. "I've just been so impressed by him. Obviously he has God-given physical skill, but the mental game, and seeing things and taking things, has really impressed me."
"He’s an elite player," added defensive back Shawn Davis. "I know of knew him growing up. He kind of got better as it went. He’s still getting better. He’s getting better at tackling and everything else.”
As one can imagine from a competitor like Henderson, he is not letting Grantham or Gray's praise define who he is, because in the end, he is working towards achieving the team's goals rather than his own.
"I haven’t really thought about my side, individually, you know accolades about it," stated Henderson. "I’ve been thinking about making my team better and getting to the high standards we had before. That’s what I really focus on.”
"When I talk about guys honing in on their exactness he’s a guy that I’m talking about," said Grantham. "I thought he did a really good job of working with the young guys and showing them how to run individual. So as we move forward this is the way it should be so that standard’s there, but then from a personal standpoint just working to understand leverages and how I can play guys and things like that to maybe get my hands on a few more balls.”
Henderson is not the most vocal player on the Florida team, however, it does not mean he is not a good leader.
“He probably said, like, ten more words than he probably said last year, and that's his way of becoming more vocal," joked Gray. "But CJ is who CJ is. But he definitely leads by example.”
There is no doubt that Henderson is a good man to follow if you're a young cornerback at UF.
