Jason Henderson, ODU's top tackler, is a player that gives South Carolina OC Dowell Loggains 'Freddy Krueger' vibes
His look is startling. His skin is burned and scarred everywhere. Then you see his iconic glove with four long, sharp claws, much like what you’d see with The Wolverine.
Put it all together and it’s a look that strikes fear. That’s just how Freddy Krueger, an iconic villain from the A Nightmare on Elm Street horror film franchise, was designed to be.
Throughout this week, South Carolina offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains has been watching film on Old Dominion’s defense. He sees a lot of good in what the Monarchs do. But when he sees ODU senior linebacker Jason Henderson, he reminds him of Krueger, a tough guy to take down.
“He’s a Freddy Krueger type guy,” Loggains said. “They just won’t die, they just keep coming.”
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While Henderson plays at a smaller school and may not be a big name, he’s one to keep an eye on when the Gamecocks face ODU on Saturday. Two years ago, he led the entire country with 179 tackles. He followed it up with 167 more last season, only good for second-best in college football.
There’s been a lot of debate about how legit Henderson’s insane tackling numbers are. Of his 424 career tackles in his first three seasons, 280 of them were assists. Skewed or not, Loggains knows this player can create havoc on the field.
“He’s just not making tackles, he’s going after the ball as well,” Loggains said. “We made tapes and showed the running backs and quarterbacks and quarterbacks and tight ends and receivers, like you better protect it because he’s trying to tackle you and rip the ball out, as well. He’s a heck of a football player.”
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The good thing for South Carolina is the offense has been able to prepare for what Henderson will bring. Gamecocks linebacker Debo Williams is a comparable player to Henderson, as he made a team-leading 113 tackles last season and returns as one of the main veterans on the defense.
“The good thing for us is through spring ball and training camp, we get to go against Debo every day,” Loggains said. “There’s some similarities with how hard these guys play, how relentless they are, don’t stop.”
But it’s not just what Henderson does that has been South Carolina’s focus in film studies and practice. The entire ODU defense will present challenges for the Gamecock offense with a lot of new moving parts.
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The Monarchs were 82nd in total defense last season, giving up over 392 yards per game. It was a middle-of-the-pack defense that was coincidentally only ranked five spots ahead of South Carolina, who finished 87th.
Since this will be the first game of the year for either team, it will be somewhat tough to know what to expect without much film to go off of. But Loggains’ group will be as prepared as they can be for what’s to come.
“This three-safety defense creates run game issues and it’s very unique,” he said. “So it’s something that you can prepare for all you want and what they put on tape last year can be completely different this year. The hardest part about the first game is you got to figure out if what you studied for and what you prepared for is what they’re showing on tape. So adjustments have to happen earlier in first games than the third game when you’ve seen two two weeks of film on them. So that’s also a huge advantage.”
