During Senior Bowl practice last week, a former longtime NFL scout spoke highly of K.J. Henry.
The Clemson defensive end product got some complimentary words from Jim Nagy, the Senior Bowl Executive Director who spent 18 years as an NFL scout and worked for four Super Bowl-winning teams.
“This was a big year for KJ,” Nagy said on NFL Network. “Talking to the coaching staff before the year, he was a guy – a lot of seniors fell into this category at Clemson – they just needed to stay healthy. For whatever reason, this senior class has been dinged up quite a bit. But KJ stayed healthy.
“He’s long, he can play on all three downs, and he’s really a high-character guy. We put a red star on the tag of the guy that’s like the best program guy, and KJ had the red star for Clemson this year.”
A third-team All-American selection by Pro Football Focus after a career year in 2022, Henry was a second-team All-ACC selection by the league’s media and coaches but collected first-team honors from the AP, Phil Steele and Pro Football Focus. He started all 14 games for the Tigers last season, collecting 59 tackles (9.0 for loss), 3.5 sacks, six pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery to go along with a team-high 24 quarterback pressures as credited by the coaching staff – the most by a Clemson player since Clelin Ferrell’s 24 in 2016.
The former five-star prospect from Winston-Salem, N.C. registered 147 career tackles (28.0 for loss), 13.5 sacks, 11 pass breakups, four fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles over 58 career games (24 starts) from 2018-22. At the time of his departure for the NFL, his 58 career games were the most ever by a Clemson defensive end.
ESPN NFL Draft analyst Matt Miller took notice of Henry at the Senior Bowl last week.
“Clemson defensive end K.J. Henry was very impressive in positional drills on the first day of practice, showing excellent body control and agility in space during zone drops and chase drills,” Miller wrote. “He was overshadowed by the first-rounders while playing on the Clemson defensive line, but he is coming off his best season and can be, at worst, a very solid role player in the NFL. He’s a fringe top-100 player for me.”
Dear Old Clemson has added the Tiger Sack Pack to our online store. Save by getting the Two Pack of signed cards from two of the nation’s top defensive ends, Myles Murphy and Xavier Thomas.
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Dear Old Clemson is doing NIL the ‘Clemson way’, but we need your help to make sure we build a sustainable, repeatable model that will help keep Clemson competitive with the other top programs around the nation.
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