Henderson: committed spark plug
Senior defensive tackle Xavier Henderson is the third captain of the Javelina football team and is the one everyone calls “Unc.”
Playing for Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) since 2019, Henderson has seen a lot of change in the program being here before head coach Michael Salinas.
However, the team captains before him taught him how to be a leader and even more skills to be the runaway freight train of a player he is today.
“The guys that came before me and the previous team captains helped me pick up skills. That’s four years where I came a long way and just got more and more confident each year,” Henderson said.
Salinas did show Henderson what college football is supposed to be and how to be successful, which still benefits the captain to this day.
“When I got here in 2019, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. But when Salinas got here, he showed me what college football was supposed to look like,” Henderson said.
Henderson is living his dream being the captain of a college football team and feels honored to be where he’s at.
“It’s a dream come true honestly, I never saw myself in this position. I’ve always been more of a lead-by-example type of guy and for the guys who voted me captain it’s really an honor,” Henderson said.
Defensive coordinator Jamison Bisch saw Henderson voted a team captain and knows what that takes and truly believes Henderson is the guy for the role.
“Number one is his work ethic, number two is his commitment. He’s all in on everything we do, and he supports the coaches. He also supports his teammates, and he’s a really good teammate. He’s a guy that works hard, but he especially backs it up with his statistics,” Bisch said.
Bisch knows Henderson is a spark plug for the whole Javelina defense.
“It’s amazing to see number zero. It doesn’t matter if the ball is 20 yards down the field. We’re talking about a 350-pound guy running full tilt all the time. So, when guys see that during the game, it motivates them,” Bisch said.
Henderson is also one of the first guys in the backfield which again inspires the whole defense, and defensive line coach Kapono Roy Asuega can see the effect of that on everyone.
“Well, he’s the heaviest Joker we have but then a lot of times in the game he’s probably the fastest one in there. How are you – the biggest one on the D line and the first one there – that inspires those guys that are 280, 285, 290 and he’s like 320. If he can do it, why can’t you?” Asuega said.
It seems Henderson lives up to his “Unc” nickname.
