Henderson: took a “cheap shot”; doesn’t listen to outside chatter

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COVER PHOTO: OSU running back TreVeyon Henderson celebrates with teammates after his 33-yard TD run in the 4th quarter against the Badgers. Picture by Jeff Hanisch/USA TODAY Sports.

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When TreVeyon Henderson took the field against Wisconsin on Saturday night, some in Buckeye Nation may have been a little apprehensive as to how much of an impact he might make after over a month off.

Ohio State’s junior running back squashed those doubts with undoubtedly his best performance of the year with a season-high 24 carries and 162 yards, scoring one touchdown.

But what exactly was going on with Tre the whole time?

After the Buckeyes’ (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) 24-10 win over the Badgers (5-3, 3-2) in Madison, Wisc., Henderson said he “took a cheap shot early” in their game on Sept. 23 against Notre Dame.

However, he didn’t go into specifics as to when, how or why it happened. He just gave praise to God that he was able to recover.

“Thank God He healed me and allowed me to come out here and give my team everything I got,” he said. “Me being out here is all because of Him, so I give all the glory to Him.”

After OSU’s fourth game against the Fighting Irish, Henderson ended with his first 100-yard game of the season, carrying the ball 14 times for 104 yards and one TD, a 61-yard run on their first offensive drive of the second half.

Many fans and media members were scratching their heads as to Henderson’s layoff when they played Maryland two weeks later, especially after having a week off after the Notre Dame game.

Henderson came out with the team during pregame warmups but after they left the field to get fully dressed, Henderson jogged out of the tunnel alongside them in street clothes.

Head coach Ryan Day said after their game against the Terrapins that Henderson was held out due to “an abundance of caution” but said Henderson would be back the next game against Purdue.

Then the same exact thing happened against the Boilermakers. He was seen warming up but then came back out in his civvies.

Fast forward a week later for their showdown with Penn State and it was “wash, rinse, repeat” as Henderson took part in drills but did not play. Although he was fully dressed.

During last week’s press conference leading up to the Badgers, Day said Henderson was a “full-go” and that he was.

But a full month off led all sorts of conjecture as to why Henderson wasn’t playing when he seemed to be fine.

Henderson said Saturday night that he doesn’t even pay attention to all the off-field chatter.

“I don’t pay attention to any of the comments or none of that stuff. Shoot, I don’t even see ‘em most of the time. I’m living to please the Lord and not anyone else.”

Henderson said it’s been “rough” not playing for over 30 days but that he’s 100 percent healthy and feels “great”.

“Shoot, it’s been rough these past games not being able to be out there with my teammates. I feel like God just kept having me look back at last year at what happened when I tried to go my own way and keep dealing with the injury to try and go out there instead of just trusting Him. This time, I put my trust in Him even though I couldn’t see where He was leading me. I knew it was going to be somewhere special and today, it showed. He’s got me, man, the Man above has always got me.”

His 162 yards against the Badgers are the second-most on the season Wisconsin has given up to one rusher and he leads the Buckeyes with 68 carries for 457 yards and six TD’s. The rushing yards individually rank ninth in the Big Ten.

Ohio State’s next game is on the road versus Rutgers (6-2, 3-2) and is a noon kickoff on CBS.