Longview (Texas) defensive tackle Zaycoven Henderson committed to the Texas Longhorns on Monday afternoon in a ceremony at his high school.
Zaycoven Henderson commits to the Texas Longhorns
The four-star defensive tackle chose Texas over Baylor, Texas Tech, and others.
Stacy Revere
Longview 2014 DT Zaycoven Henderson commits to Texas. He will be an early enrollee. #HookEm https://t.co/RRecwTuGsd
— Gabe Brooks (@gabrieldbrooks) December 9, 2013
The 6'1, 280-pound defensive tackle originally committed to the TCU Horned Frogs during a Junior Day in late February before re-opening his recruitment in early September after contradictory reports emerged about the status of his pledge to the Horned Frogs.
Ever since the time of his de-commitment, the Longhorns appeared to be the favorite, as Henderson visited unofficially twice during September before going underground and providing little information publicly for several months.
Henderson chose Texas over finalists Baylor and Texas Tech.
Here's Zaycoven Henderson (@lobo5540) flashing the Hook Em moments after committing. #UT #Hookem #Horns pic.twitter.com/By1HMdOUCJ
— Blake Munroe (@247Blake) December 9, 2013
A consensus four-star prospect rated as the No. 24 defensive tackle nationally and the No. 37 player in the state of Texas by the 247Sports Composite rankings, Henderson also held offers from Arkansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Ole Miss, along with the aforementioned finalists.
The No. 2 defensive tackle in the state according to the Composite rankings behind Texas A&M commit Deshawn Washington, Henderson is an ideal height at 6’1 to take advantage of his leverage against opposing offensive linemen and shows some knowledge of how to use his hands to control linemen once he gets underneath their pads, without being completely undersized.
While not the most disruptive defensive tackle around in terms of his initial quickness off the ball, Henderson is a good athlete who combines his natural ability with a motor that runs consistently to make sure that he’s around the football up and down the line of scrimmage.
He can also shoot some gaps as a pass rusher and is an effective bull rusher with his strength, though he does need to work on developing more consistent moves to pressure quarterbacks, as do most high school defensive tackles.
For the Horns, Henderson’s commitment is an important one with qualification concerns still surrounding New Orleans (La.) St. Augustine’s Courtney Garnett and 247Sports no longer listing San Antonio (Texas) Warren defensive tackle Trey Lealaimatafao as a commitment as he takes official visits, though he maintains that he is still committed despite those visits and releasing a top four on Sunday evening.
After completely missing on defensive tackles in the 2013 class with the de-commitment of eventual Alabama signee A'Shawn Robinson and eventual Baylor signee Andrew Billings, Texas needed numbers in this class and now has some with Henderson in the fold.
Depending on whether one still considers Lealaimatafao a Texas commit -- and he’s maintained that he is -- the Horns now have 22 or 23 pledges in the 2014 class.
