The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Backup QB Stories, Part 1: Drew Henson | Dual Threat with Ryen Russillo

Episode Date: March 7, 2019

In Part 1 of a four-part series, Russillo goes through former NFL and MLB player Drew Henson's story, from his time at Michigan to his time with the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, and more, to talk about why it ultimately didn't work out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

hey what's up guys ryan russo for the ringer dual threat podcast and as we mentioned at the end of the regular season in the playoffs we're going to try to do some stuff here during the offseason so we'll have draft coverage free agency a couple other surprises but something that i've been very passionate about for a long time and something I'd like to even expand on. I love backup quarterback stories. I love to hear from guys that I've got to know at ESPN or just know living in different parts of the country and asking what happened, what went wrong. What happened is really probably one of the best questions you can ask anyone on any subject. But if you think about backup QBs, at some point, almost every one of these guys was the best guy in their town,

maybe the top recruit, maybe the best guy in college at the time they were playing, and then it just doesn't work out. And for some, it's bad fit. Sometimes it's bad coaching. Sometimes it's the team around him. And sometimes it's just that guy, and he's willing to admit, you know what? I just wasn't good enough. So that's what we're going to do now. It's a special edition of Dual Threat, the backup QBs. Produced in one of the world's longest-running distilleries, Belvedere vodka is the world's finest all-natural vodka, part of a 600-year Polish vodka-making tradition. Belvedere is made with non-GMO Polish rye, pure water, and no additives.

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And before football recruiting ever really was a thing, at least the thing it is now, Tom Lemming, who was at CBS Sports, gave him a five-star grade, but also said that Drew Henson was one of the top ten football players he had seen all year. He was the son of a college coach at major different programs. He was an offensive coordinator. There's a story about Drew, you know, being smaller his freshman year and then blowing up to like 6'2 and 225 and playing catch with his father and asking at 14 years old, hey, dad, how

good do you think I can be? And the father's like, I actually think you can be pretty good. So as he runs through and starts setting all these records in both baseball and football and everybody's trying to figure out where Drew Henson is going to go, there's a bunch of teams on the list. If you go back and look at it, it was like six teams. Then it was down to three teams, and it was Florida State, it was Michigan, and it was Stanford.

He wanted to go to those three schools because of a couple different reasons, academics, but also that he was going to be allowed to play both baseball and football, which is something he still wanted to do. And it looked like, if you go back and look at all this stuff like I did, it was going to be Florida State. But Florida State had another two-sport guy at quarterback named Chris Wienke, who had been recruited six years earlier, was going to go be the quarterback in Tallahassee,

told Bobby Bowden, you know what, if I get first round, I'll probably go baseball, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Wienke got first round money, told Bowden. Bowden made a promise to Winky and said, if you ever want to come back, we'll have your scholarship waiting for you in Tallahassee. This is happening at the same time Henson's basically getting ready to commit there.

And so Henson's like, I'm out. Mark Richt at the time is going, what are we doing? Do we really want to bring Winky back? And Bowden says, hey, I made him a promise. And then Winky, it totally works out for. So another part of Michigan over Stanford was that Henson went, you know what, New Year's Day, that's where I want to play. I'm a Michigan guy.

So it was Michigan. He commits to Lloyd Carr. And here's our conversation with Drew Henson. So you were on campus at Michigan as a freshman, 98, right? And you didn't play really that much. And then your year was in 99, but you were drafted by the Yankees in 98, correct? Yes, I was drafted out of high school

by the Yankees in the third round. And over the summer, we were able to negotiate a contract that allowed me to essentially be an amateur in football and a professional in baseball. So I play the fall season and go to spring ball. And then when school was out, I had to report for the summer and then come back early August. So I can't imagine.

I mean, I know everybody's probably said this, like, oh, when I was 18, I was. Look, you're just different when you're a top baseball prospect, when you're a top football prospect. How awesome was that? Like, were your friends even jealous of the idea that you just go and try to play professional baseball after being on campus as a freshman at Ann Arbor? Yeah. I bought a lot of pizzas, put it that way. But no, it was great. Compared to other summer jobs, I got to go and play for the Yankees in their system. There were some unique situations like during spring break, in the middle of spring football practice, I'd go down and have 10 days

of spring training and come back. And there was a constant, you know, scheduling deal between the school, the team, and then my academic studies. But, yeah, you're 18, 19 years old, and I had the best of every world. There was always this conversation about Henson maybe taking Brady's job, but that wasn't really always the case. Henson did get his first action his freshman year. Number five Michigan was on the road at number 22 Notre Dame. Notre Dame was putting it on him,

and Henson came in relief. His first action for the Wolverines. Third down and seven, and the throw complete. There's his first collegiate pass to be completed to Marcus Knight. Drew Henson gets Michigan a first down on that 17-yard throw. Michigan trying to end on a positive note. Even in defeat with their freshman quarterback here. He's got a chance to see his foot speed to the 50. And ducks out of bounds

intelligently at the 42 of Notre Dame. Another first down, Michigan. First and goal, Michigan with Drew Henson at the controls looking for his first touchdown jeremy toman that was impressive i've always felt like the brady thing was maybe overstated i don't know how you felt about it but like when i was in boston everybody loves to embellish the stories and it was oh drew henson was taking brady's job that really wasn't the case i mean brady played

the majority of the snaps, but maybe there was a little bit of drama in that. How did you see that story from your perspective as this big recruit coming in? Well, I could understand it from the outside because I was local from just down the road in Brighton. And Tom hadn't yet started. Everybody knew he was a good prospect.

They were just coming off the national title of Brian Greasy as the quarterback. But really, I mean, because of Michigan's profile, I think that had something to do with it. But, you know, quarterback competition happens at every school, especially schools with, you know, good prospects and, you know, lining up guy after guy. And so my freshman year, I ended up playing an eight or nine game as the backup. And then the second year, you know, coming out of training camp, coaches felt like both guys served a chance to play. And that's

what we did for about seven weeks. And then you get into the stretch run and with a chance to win the Big Ten. And they, you know, they went with Tom to try to go win this thing. And that's what they did. So within the team, you know, Tom was a captain. He was an established leader. I was a second year player trying to make my own mark. But at the end of the day, Tom was a captain. He was an established leader. I was a second-year player trying to make my own mark. But at the end of the day, it was all about winning games. And people from the outside, you know, tell me almost a bigger story as Tom's become what he is than necessarily what he had been during that time. Okay, so there wasn't really any issue with you there in the first couple years.

Like, did you and Tom get along? Or, you know, was it anything where you felt like he was in your way? Because obviously in 1999, the team had a really good year. Yeah, we did. We ended up tying for the Big Ten and beat Alabama in the Orange Bowl. It was a really successful season. Tom was three years older than me. When I came in as a freshman,

you know, you look up to the guys in your position group and in your room. And so I really used him as a guide to learn from whether it's training, whether it's film study, whether it's just the way you go about your work and competitiveness. You know, he made me better. And hopefully that made him better through the course of that. But, you know, you're all on the same team. And while everybody is competing to try to get on the field, at the end of the day, who's ever out there, you're doing your best to help and support. Drew got things going his junior season after an injury

missing part of his junior year. But remember, he had already been drafted by the Yankees and was with their minor league system. Third down, heads into the middle, first down. You talk about a rifle arm. minor league system. 25 yards. You hear words like this. Sensation. He's a phenom. This is what they've seen in practice.

A rope of 25 yards right on the numbers to the receiver. Knight doesn't even have to think about anything but how hard that ball is going to hit him in the chest. Okay, so then let's get to your year now. Junior year, 2000. And you don't start right away at the beginning of the season, John Navarro. So was that a battle thing or was that an injury? You're going to have to remind me on that one.

It was an injury. It was the Saturday before our first game. And I was planting on a bootleg and I broke my foot. Okay. Seven days before the first start. So I had to screw put in. I missed about four weeks. So it was the middle of the fourth game that I was cleared to play.

That was at Illinois. Since the state starts. You end up putting up great numbers. Everyone's really excited. Then, we keep the timeline going here. You're traded as Cincinnati.

Were you traded as Cincinnati from the Yankees organization before you had started that fall? I was. Now you're with as since that were you traded to Cincinnati from the Yankees organization before you had started that fall? Okay. All right. So, so now you're with the Reds and now no, no one's like, so then you get traded back to the Yankees. So if you can help me understand it, give me the timeline of events from where now you're in the Reds organization. You have this great January season. Everybody wants you back on campus. You're telling everybody you're coming back to campus. And then the yankees step back up to the plate yes so before my junior year

i'd spend my two years to put my time in getting ready to start and i was in double a uh 20 years old and uh mr steinbrenner the yankees approached myself and my agent uh basically saying would you be open to you know signing a full-time contract right now, being a Yankee for life, blah, blah, blah, and not going back for my junior year, my starting year. And at that time, I said, no, I've put my time in. I'm ready to lead this team, see what I can do, and have this experience, which I said from the beginning from high school that I'm going to Michigan to play quarterback.

I love baseball, and I think I want to do that long-term, but I'm going to do this. So with that being said, they decided to trade me to Cincinnati for Denny Nagel and a couple other guys. And I spent a couple weeks with the Reds organization before I went back to Ann Arbor in August to get ready for the season. Come the end of the season, I had a decision to make. Do you want to enter the draft? Do you want to come back to your senior year? And then there were rumblings that the Yankees would be open to

trading back for me and possibly give me a major league deal. The timeline then, you know, I decided I wasn't going to enter the draft. I needed another season at the same time waiting to see if this baseball thing was going to develop. So when that happened in March, they traded back for me and they were able to figure out a contract. And that's when I left school. More with Drew Hansen in a moment. But did you know that not all alcohol products are required to list their ingredients?

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So then we get to the baseball part of this. Now you're full-time with the Yankees here, and it's three years of AAA, 71 games, 128 games, 133 games. When did it start to get to the point where you're like, I don't know if I'm going to be good enough? Well, you know, looking back and especially being in baseball, uh, on the other side of it, I was only 23 in my last baseball season. Uh, and, and in my own mind, you know, not being established as a league guy with a 22,

23, you know, you feel like you're behind the curve or you're falling behind the progression. And, uh, and that really wasn't the case. You know, I was a 21 year old in triple a with, you know, minimum of that for, for my the curve or fall behind the progression. And that really wasn't the case. You know, I was a 21-year-old in AAA with, you know, minimum at-bats for my age and my experience. And I'd break my hand as soon as I get to the Yankees and miss my first half of the season. But by that 2003, as my at-bats and my development continued, I wasn't as far away as I thought. And looking back, you know, my strike zone discipline, it improved my walks, it got up my, um,

my overall, I guess, feeling that the plate were developing and maturing. So, uh, you know, I was close. I think that next year would have been the one that got over the hump. But, uh, again, you're in your twenties, you have, you have different options and, uh, you know, I just got frustrated and lost patience with myself. And that's one thing that, looking back, I wish I had given myself a better chance on that end.

Okay, so the end of 2002-2003, you're called up for those, and I want to get to that little brief September call-up. Was it eight games with the Yankees in total? Yes. Yeah, when you get called up and the team's a contender, you don't play

a whole lot. No, no doubt. They mix in the young guys then. So Houston had taken you in the sixth round in 2003 in the NFL draft. And from what I went back and read, it was almost these rumblings to, okay, would he be interested? So are you telling me now, I mean, it sounds like a lot of us, when you get older, you think back and be like, man, I wish I could have given myself this advice or just spend a little bit more patient. Now you understanding it working for the Yankees and props, all this stuff, but like what then propelled you other than impatience to go, you know what, let's get some feelers out here about returning to football

and going to the NFL. How did that come about? Well, before I left to play football, Charlie Casserly and the Texans were an expansion team, and they were getting ready for their 2002 draft. And I had met with Charlie and talked with him a little bit after my junior year. And so he had done some background on me and had begun to study me a little bit. So come three years later, when the Houstons were picking after what would have been my fifth year in football,

I think that he had more reports on me probably than anyone had and took that flyer that if they could take me late and then trade me for a higher pick, you know, I'm there and that's a positive. And I really hadn't considered football. I mean, I was full go baseball all the time until, you know, people start asking you questions and questions and questions. And, you know, I never had any idea that I'd end up leaving until later. And, you know, the frustration kind of built, and you see other people that you know you're at least as good as having success on the other end.

And, you know, I'd never struggled in football either, and it was just vision over the course of my last year, what was going to make me happy. And that time I thought it was going to be, you know, to bounce back to football and give that a go. So then Jerry Jones gets involved. What's the first thing he said to you? Because then he traded a third rounder for you to Houston

who drafted you in the sixth round. So how did that conversation first start? Well, you know, Jerry, you Jerry, he's a gambler, and he's not afraid to take some chances. You know, when you're a competitive team, it's tough to identify the quarterback prospects if you're not drafting high. So he, you know, in his opinion,

it was a gamble worth taking of trading a three for me and seeing if, you know, my college shape and what I was as a college player was going to translate and develop. And he was great from the start. There was only two or three teams when it came down to it that really had offers for Houston. Then Jerry and the Cowboys had the best offer

and were able to work something out too. But Jerry, he talked to Yankee guys, and he did a background on everything. He was great, and he always has been great. So it's actually going to happen. Drew Henson's going to get to become a pro quarterback much longer or later than many thought, despite the distraction of baseball. But it was all really quick.

So, 2004, you come in your first action against Baltimore. You guys are losing. And I remember working at the time. You go, wait a minute. He came in and went 6-for-6. Again, it was spot duty there. Give me that feeling in that first NFL game. You've gone through this incredible journey

and you're out there. You complete a bunch of passes. How nervous? Were you scared? Give me how you felt that day. I felt great. After the game, you come in with eight minutes left, and you find yourself looking across Murray-Lewis, and Ed Reed right down the middle.

Were they saying anything to you? No, no. But you catch yourself as you're trotting out in the field, realizing the situation around. Then you get in the huddle, and then you take a couple snaps, and it's back to playing football. But just to understand that the September before, I was playing third base for the Yankees when David Wills gave his 200th win, and 13 months later,

I'm lining up under center for the Cowboys, playing against Ray Lewis, Doug Reaton, those guys. So it was a wild 12 months. And by then, I wasn't sure where things were going to lead. But, no, I felt great. And then, you know, came back on that short week on the Thanksgiving game and, you know, ended up playing the first half. We were tied 7-7 and decided to put Vinny back in. Yeah, so you started that next game against the Bears. We still wait for the first throw from Drew Henson, who is 6-for-6.

Taking over for the injured Vinny Testaverde last week at Baltimore. Play action, and here is that first throw maybe. Henson lets it go, and he finds Quincy Morgan. And Morgan finds a first down and a gain of 13 yards. Talking about Drew Hansen and what he does well he really has great mobility. He moves very well not only

within the pocket but also once he's able to get out on the perimeter. In fact some of the coaches feel that he's a better passer on the move than what he is from within the pocket. So therefore you come into this

game. You want to run some bootlegs. You want to get him flushed out on some rollout type things. We see the accuracy that he has right there. Putting it on Quincy Moore. For more as we await the start of the second half. Let's go down to Pam Oliver.

Hey Joe. Some big news from the Dallas Cowboys. Bill Carsells told me at halftime he's seen about enough of Drew Henson in his rookie debut. He said the kid did some nice things, but he needs to go with the quarterback who gives him the best chance to win the ballgame. And so Vinny Testaverde will start the second half for the Dallas Cowboys, back, shoulder, and all. Back to you.

And that was it. I mean, that was it. How did that happen? How did it go from, okay, we're starting you next week, and then that was it? That was the end of your Cowboys career? You know, yeah, your guess is as good as mine. I would love to have had more than an opportunity.

You get one half, you get 12 snaps. It was 4-for-12. I had a couple. I had a pick, but offense wasn't really in sync, but didn't make any major mistakes. And then he came back in the game, ended up starting for a few more games, and Tony and I were flopping back and forth between the two and the three.

Um, and then come the next season, I decided to go with Tony for the two. And I didn't see a whole lot of game steps. So it doesn't sound like you're happy about that. Uh, well, how did it, well, you know, any, any, any, any guy would love to, of course, not have an opportunity to show what he could do. Okay. And that was kind of my window. And then he kind of comes and goes.

And you look back and you're like, geez, that was fast. So then what happens after that? How does the exit from Dallas happen? In 2006, they had decided that Tony was going to be their guy going forward. And Bledsoe was there. And they decided to carry two quarterbacks on the roster. And you hadn't played in a while, right?

Yeah, I mean, you hadn't played since... No, I'd gone to NFL Europe to get snaps. I spent a spring there, played in nine games, because it's been so long since I've had actual game reps, probably three or four years. So I did that,

and I was starting to feel better. You know, I was throwing a football for nine months and jumping right into an NFL training camp. I didn't kind of feel like my old self until essentially after I left the Cowboys, you know, with a couple off seasons and, you know, mechanically and everything, uh, it was starting to feel like it had before, but, uh, you know, they went the direction they did. And then, uh, then I moved on to Minnesota and eventually Detroit before it was done.

So you played a couple of games in 2008. I mean, you get in to really... Yeah, I got in. That was the 0-16 season, and it was kind of a quarterback shuffle, whoever helped me that weekend. Yeah, there were a lot of blowouts, so I did get a few snaps at the end of the season,

and they drafted Matt Stafford, number one, that next spring, and they let me go, and that was that. So how were you able at that point in 2008 to go all right i'm done with all this well yeah when they when they stopped calling you back you know i kind of knew that that uh that was probably it and uh you know 29 years old and it was into the run and uh it's something i never would have thought you know before 30 that would be the case but but it was and then you know after that it's been like well you know, before 30, that would be the case, but, but it was. And then, you know, after that, it's been like, well, you know,

what am I going to do for this next chapter of my life? Uh, whichever athlete, you know, regardless of when you finish playing faces when they're done, how long did it take to get over all of it? A couple of years, probably, um, you know, especially as you still have teammates that are playing, uh, and you still feel like physically and mentally that you could do the job. But, you know, there's always more guys coming in, younger guys, cheaper guys,

and that's the nature of the league. I mean, you're going to get probably one opportunity, and after that, you know, you need a couple of breaks to get that chance again. And despite it not being the end of the story, he's out of football. He'd been long done with baseball. He at least had that one Major League hit. Drew Henson grounds one up the middle, and that is

going to be through for a base hit, and Drew Henson has his first big league base hit. And they'll get the ball for him. To be called up and get that one hit, maybe you don't even care. Maybe you don't even care. Maybe you don't even think about it.

I think for me, and I'm just talking as a guy, like, despite the disappointment, that would mean so much to me to have that one underneath the H column when I go on a pro baseball reference.

You know? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I had the ball in my office. I had the ball from my touchdown pass.

You know, all things considered, if you'd asked me when I was 10 years old if you could get the chance to play in the major leagues or in the NFL, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. You know, the thing I take away from my career is the experiences I had that no one else has had the chance to, to have a relationship with Bo Schembechler, George Steinbrenner, Jerry Jones, to be part of these iconic organizations and franchises and the people you meet along the way, the teammates that I've had. I mean, I have Hall of Fame teammates from college.

I have Hall of Fame teammates from baseball and Hall of Fame teammates from football. I've got to see some of the greatest athletes in the world do their thing on a daily basis. And those things are what I take as I move forward with my professional career that I can lean on and give to the next generation of athletes or organizations, wherever that may lead. So is there any specific thing, kind of, I think the purpose of kind of this four-part thing that we're doing with quarterbacks is just, you know, what happened? And it sounds like you wish you had more patience at Michigan. It sounds like maybe you had more patience at baseball. I mean, there's all these expectations on you. I remember reading about you. I mean, we're almost the same age, you know, maybe a year or two older than you. Looking back on it, like if you could just sum it up in a few sentences,

like why do you think it didn't work out ultimately? I think that when you get to the highest level and you spread yourself thin with reps and time, that I was playing catch up the whole time, whether it was trying to get the at-bats under my belt, develop my strike zone discipline, or being away for three years and trying to get back to my old self mechanically. My windows of opportunity, I don't think I gave myself the best chance because I was constantly playing catch-up or behind the curve.

And that's what I think, in my own mind, it cost me the boat. Hey, Drew, I really appreciate this, man. And thanks so much for your time. All right, thank you, Ryan. So that's part one of the Backup Quarterback Stories for the ringers dual threat podcast.

I don't want to name everybody else that is sort of signed onto this, but we have, we have more than we thought we were going to have. So right now it's part one, please subscribe, make sure you stay with all of our off season content and part two of the backup QB stories from dual threat. Thanks a lot.