Minium: Ricky Rahne, ODU Football Players Rally Around Jason Henderson

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. – Since he was 10 years old, and a budding star in his youth community league in Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania, Jason Henderson has been known as a football player.

Of course, he was and remains a good student and a good person, a loving son and loyal friend. But for many student-athletes, especially star athletes, your sport can become an oversized part of your life.

“It can become your identity,” said Ricky Rahne, Old Dominion’s head football coach.

Which is why Henderson’s announcement Sunday on social media that he was stepping away from football was so painful, and at the same time, courageous.

After sustaining a serious knee injury just prior to Old Dominion’s 2023 bowl game, the two-time All-American linebacker could never quite come back. And so, after playing one game this season, he decided it was best for everyone that he give up football.

Rahne knew the announcement was coming when he sat behind the microphones to meet with the media Saturday night. He was rather pensive for a guy whose team had just beaten North Carolina Central, 54-6.

And now we know why.

Jason was the first recruit to commit to Rahne when he came to ODU in 2019. Rahne had gotten to know Jason well when he was the offensive coordinator at Penn State.

They were close and Rahne spoke emotionally about Jason during his weekly press conference on Monday in which he praised him for making a “mature decision.”

“You know, there comes a point where we all know that the game of football is going to end for us,” Rahne said. “And it rarely ends on your terms.

“It’s an emotional time for him and he’s going to continue to need the support of the coaching staff and of his teammates. I think he didn’t want to be a distraction, with the constant questions, ‘Is he playing or is he not.’”

“For a long time, all of us are identified as football players,” Rahne added. “And not having that as part of your identity is the growth that we all have to make at some point.

“And I know he’s going to handle that well.”

Rahne, understandably, would not share much of what he and Jason discussed the last several months but clearly, this decision did not catch him by surprise.

“It was a decision that he thought deeply about,” Rahne said. “It was a well thought out decision, certainly a rational decision.”

Jason Henderson's announcement on Instagram

Jason remains one of the greatest athletes ever in ODU athletics history and for that, he deserves the thanks, praise and support of all of Monarch Nation.

In 37 games, Jason had a school-record 444 tackles. He helped lead the Monarchs to two bowl bids and a memorable, 20-17 victory over Virginia Tech in 2022. He was a second-team All-American as a sophomore and a first-teamer as a junior.

He leaves with a ton of records, including the ODU and Sun Belt single-season records for tackles.

And he played with class – it was not unusual for him to reach his hand out to help up an opposing quarterback after driving him into the turf. 

He was patient with fans, who often swarmed around him after games. He especially loved to interact with kids.

He was also steadfastly loyal. In the days of NIL deals and the transfer portal, he elected to remain at ODU.

Rahne said that fans sometimes misunderstand just how debilitating injuries can be.

“The one thing about injuries is that we all act like, ‘OK, if you heal this part of your body that you’re going to just be healed,’” Rahne said. “Well, the healing of the body can affect other parts of you. And Jason just got to the point where it became too difficult to keep doing the things necessary to play this game.

“This is a very tough game played by tough people. . . . And for Jason to say, ‘I can’t play anymore,’ you would have to imagine the amount of physical pain that he was probably in to get to that decision.”

Rahne said he’s thankful that he played football at Cornell, an Ivy League school that did not participate in the FCS playoffs and sends few players to the NFL.

“It’s the greatest gift I’ve ever been given,” he said, “because not knowing when it’s over, and all of a sudden having to deal with it being over, that is an incredibly emotional time in peoples’ lives.

“I knew, once we played our last game against Penn, my playing career was over. That was a blessing.”

Jason’s teammates say they will be there to help him cope.

Stephon Dubose-Bourne, a redshirt senior offensive lineman from Chesapeake’s Indian River High, was in the same recruiting class with Jason.

“There are five of us still here that all came in together,” he said. “We all love Jason.

“We’re going to stand by him and keep up with him.”

And for the rest of the season, he added, “the guys on this team, we’re all playing for him.”

That begins Saturday night when the Monarchs play at Virginia Tech.

Linebacker Jahleel Culbreath, a redshirt junior from Virginia Beach’s Ocean Lakes High, said “it hurt” when he learned of Jason’s decision.

“It hurt because I love Jason,” he said. “Jason’s a brother. I’ve been playing with Jason for four years now. I know how much he loves the game.

“We will always be there for him, we’re going to uplift him, so that he will be all right.”

 Minium is ODU’s senior executive writer. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram