Henry turns in big performance in comeback win

It has been a big senior season thus far for Cincinnati (Ohio) Princeton defensive lineman Darrion Henry. The Ohio State pledge has fully recovered from off-season shoulder surgery and is playing perhaps his best football to date over the course of the first five games of the season.

Henry came up big once again on Friday night in a comeback win against Lakota East. Henry recorded a sack and a couple of tackles-for-loss, including a big fourth and one stop in the second half.

"It's great to get this win," said Henry after the game. "We were down and we came back. So it's overall just a great win and great to finally get back on the winning side."

The win moves Princeton to 3-2 and puts the Vikings back squarely in the playoff picture. For Henry, the athletic defensive end has been known as an excellent pass rusher during his high school career but the key to his success so far this season has been more balance to his game.

"I think I've been playing the run a lot better than I did last year," he explained. "We're playing a lot of running teams in the GMC so I haven't had to use a lot of my pass rushing moves so I've really been able to get better against the run."

Henry was recently back at Ohio State for another visit and has been impressed with what he has seen from a revamped Buckeye defense this fall.

"I went to the UC game," he recalled. "They look good. From the D-Line to the secondary, they're just looking great. It's a big jump from last year."

When Henry committed to Ohio State over the summer, a large part of that decision was to get the chance to play for Buckeyes' defensive line coach Larry Johnson. The two have a long-standing relationship that has been built over several years and they have remained in touch during their respective seasons.

"He just keeps me motivated," Henry said. "He tells me to keep working hard and just gives me little pieces of advice. But we don't even talk about football that much, it's more just about life."

Henry is rated the No. 61 overall prospect in the 2020 recruiting class.