Before Clemson had its spring practices cut short, K.J. Henry was showing significant improvement in his role at defensive end.

Now in his third year in the Clemson program, the 6-foot-4, 250-pound redshirt sophomore has a better understanding of the defense. He played with more confidence. He reacted faster to what was going on around him.

He was playing with a lot more confidence.

After redshirting in 2018, everything was coming at Henry. Each play and each rep were faster, so he spent a lot of time absorbing the information, trying to understand what he was supposed to do on each play, as opposed to reacting to what the offense was doing.

During the nine practices Clemson was able to get in before the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down, it was all coming together for Henry.

“It kinda goes back to the backfield sets,” he said. “I am finally getting to read the offense and add on whatever play Coach [Brent Venables] is calling. It is all starting to come together.”

Henry’s goal was to control what he can control, having an attack mindset and just trying to improve on the things the coaches wanted him to get better at.

“What I have realized, is that it starts with a mindset. That is really what I have been trying to focus on. Just every day coming out with the right mindset,” he said. “Obviously, knowing everybody’s days are numbered in the grand scheme of things, so attacking each day and just trying to get better each day.”

Last season, Henry played in all 15 games as a reserve defensive end. He finished with 22 tackles, but 4.5 of those were tackles for loss. Two of those tackles behind the line were sacks. He also knocked down three pass and had three quarterback pressures.

“Obviously, it is a week-to-week scheme, but that kind of goes back to the mindset thing,” Henry said. “If I don’t have confidence in myself than I will not have made any plays. So, definitely the growth through the season from beginning to end, my confidence grew in me. My teammates got more confidence in me and that helped me play a lot better too.

“I think with my confidence, that determines how you play and how fast you play. All of those things.”

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