LaDarius Henderson agrees that Michigan is 'America's Team,' discusses if pass protection is an issue

Michigan Wolverines football has dealt with its fair share of adversity this season, despite being undefeated with all but one game being decided by 24-plus points. Jim Harbaugh has missed four games due to two separate suspensions, the latest being an unprecedented punishment from the Big Ten amid an NCAA investigation that has no proof the head man was involved in alleged scouting allegations. Outside noise has swirled around the program after an apparently-rogue former low-level staff member, Connor Stalions, emerged as the center of the investigation.

This week, Harbaugh said Michigan “has gotta be America’s team,” following its 24-15 win over Penn State. The Wolverines wasn’t sure until an hour and a half before kickoff that Harbaugh would miss the game, and still was able to come out with a top-10 win.

“I do agree,” Michigan graduate left tackle LaDarius Henderson said Tuesday. “Think about this — look at America’s Team in the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys. I am a Cowboys fan. And, I feel like there are some similarities. I feel like you guys could probably point those out better than I can, but I feel like there are similarities.”

Henderson was asked if Michigan has been able to internalize the outside noise and use it to its benefit.

“That’s somewhat of a loaded question, because I feel like we know the truth, we know our own integrity and the truth is going to be what we speak and that’s what’s going to come out of our mouth,” the Michigan lineman said. “We’re just going to do our best.

“The mission never really changes for us. Whether this happened or didn’t happen, our goal is to just win, and that’s what we want to do every week.”

He said it’s not hard to keep that mindset, because “when the mission doesn’t change, it’s not that hard to stay focused. We just want to win, and that’s what we intend to keep doing.”

No concern about Michigan pass protection

Michigan ran the ball 46 times compared to just 8 passes — the least it’s thrown in a game this century — against Penn State. Pass protection was an issue early on, with graduate right tackle Karsen Barnhart allowing 3 pressures, including a sack. The Maize and Blue decided to go with a run-heavy attack, running 32 straight times to close out the game and amassing 227 yards on the ground.

“The plan was to smash, and we indeed smashed,” Henderson said with a smile.

There are now questions as to whether or not Michigan can effectively protect junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy against elite pass rush units that the Wolverines may face against Ohio State or down the road in the postseason. However, Henderson said he’s not worried.

“I don’t think there’s concern about that at all,” he said. “You’ve seen who our coaches are — [offensive coordinator, line coach and interim head man when Harbaugh is out] Coach [Sherrone] Moore, we’re smart enough to figure out how to protect and to make in-game adjustments with the pass game if that’s what we wanted to do, but we did what we wanted to do. So, we’re all excited about that and happy about the results.”

It’s tough to get a good jump on the ball as an offensive player on the road in a loud environment like Beaver Stadium when going with a silent count, so that could’ve factored in, but Henderson downplayed that aspect.

“It is a lot different,” the Michigan lineman said of playing tackle in those circumstances. “So, I’ve played tackle, I’ve played guard. As a guard, you’re closer to the center, and a lot of times, you’re the one telling him when to go. If anything, the guard can have an advantage in a silent cadence, whereas a tackle you don’t.

“But it’s something that we’ve repped and we’ve worked constantly, so we felt pretty confident in it. This wasn’t our first week repping it, so when we got in the game we felt pretty comfortable with it.”

Michigan went with its ‘mammoth’ package with seven offensive linemen quite a bit against Penn State, leading to some of the run-game success.

“Oh, that’s awesome, especially when we get seven, eight offensive linemen out there,” Henderson said. “Knowing that I’ve got 300-plus pounds on this side, 300-plus pounds on this side, and [the defense] is probably like, ‘Oh, crap, what am I going to do?’ It was awesome to feel like they’re worried about it — and I’m sure they were. So, it was good.”