There are moments during games when even Elba High head football coach Marc Sieving watches star running back Alvin Henderson and just shakes his head.
“Sometimes, the coaches will be on the headsets, and he will do something and we are all just like, ‘Wow. That was unbelievable,’” Sieving said. “Obviously, he’s a special player. It’s been awesome to watch.”
Elba (7-2) hosts Florala (7-2) on Friday with playoff positioning in Class 1A, Region 2 on the line.
The individual stakes for Henderson are high as well.
The senior Auburn commit is likely to become the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s career rushing leader Friday and also is closing in on 10,000 yards rushing in his high school career.
He needs only 104 yards to pass former Alexandria star Mac Campbell (9,839 yards) and move into first place on the career rushing list and 264 yards to become the first Alabama high school player to reach 10,000 yards rushing. Henderson would be just the seventh player nationally to reach that mark, according to NFHS records. Former Alabama star and current Baltimore Raven Derrick Henry holds the national record (12,144).
Henderson is averaging 191 yards rushing per game in his high school career. He’s averaged more than 200 yards per game in his last three seasons, including 270 this year. As a senior, he has gained 2,426 yards and scored 42 TDs on 180 carries.
“The most awesome thing to me is that Alvin doesn’t seem to care that much about it,” Sieving said. “That is what amazes me. With today’s kids, it would be so easy to be stuck up and arrogant about a record like this. He literally just wants to win games. There have been a lot of games where we get close to the goal line and Alvin tells me to give it to another guy. He did that last Friday night. That’s just the kind of person he is.”
Henderson told AL.com this week that breaking the record would mean a lot to him but also admitted it is not something he has spent much time thinking about.
“When I was younger, my coaches told me that if I stayed focus, I would be able to accomplish some things,” he said. “My family and my coaches told me entering this year that if I had another season like I did last year (3,523 yards, 61 TDs) that I might be able to possibly break the record, but I really didn’t think much about it until two or three weeks ago.”
Henderson said he has been concentrating more on his team than his statistics.
“My goals this summer were really just to try to help our team get back to where we were last season (state semifinals) or further even,” he said. “We had a lot of guys coming back, and I wanted to have a good year for the rest of the seniors and to show the younger guys what is possible when you put your mind to certain goals.”
Sieving said if Henderson does break Campbell’s record Friday night that officials would try to make an announcement at the stadium and then honor him after the game.
“I’ve been coaching 26 years and have been around a lot of good players,” he said. “There is no comparison. This is a young man who can literally take over a game. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The 5-foot-10 Henderson flipped his college commitment from Penn State to Auburn in June. Jason Caldwell of AuburnUndercover.com has been covering recruiting and Auburn University for 25 years. He said the first thing he notices about Henderson is the ease in which he seemingly runs.
“Built like many of the best running backs the game has ever seen, Henderson has great vision and is more physical than he probably gets credit for,” Caldwell said. “Because of his ability to carry the ball over and over again, Henderson could be the type of back that becomes a workhorse when he gets to Auburn.”
Henderson plans to graduate from Elba in December and report to Auburn in January. Sieving said Henderson’s talent – and especially his work ethic – should make him successful on the next level.
“A lot of people talk about the 1A argument and all that,” he said. “I coached at (Class 7A) Enterprise for years. Alvin is electric with the ball in his hands. He comes in every week, and we talk about some of the things he needs to do to be even better. It’s cool to see that he is still wanting to improve.
“He understands success comes from hard work. He understands he has been blessed with talent, but he also wants to get the most out of it. I think he’ll get to Auburn and work his butt off and, as long as he does that, he can accomplish anything he wants.”
Henderson said Auburn coaches have told him they have a plan to get the ball in his hands next year. He also said he feels like the Tigers’ highly ranked recruiting class is all in despite the team’s record on the field this year.
“Every time, we meet with coach (Hugh) Freeze, he tells us we will be the bell cows along with the guys they added last year to get to Auburn back to where they are supposed to be,” he said. “That’s what we want to do.”
If Henderson does not break the record against Florala, his next chance will come in the first round of the Class 1A playoffs. The Tigers are idle in Week 11 of the regular season.
AHSAA CAREER RUSHING LEADERS
Mac Campbell, Alexandria (9,839) (1993-1997)
Terrance Hollingsworth, Berry (9,819) (2009-2013)
Alvin Henderson, Elba (9,736) (2020-Present)
Terrance Wilkes, Wadley (9,668) (2003-2006)
Jamarius Henderson, Dale County (9,207) (2010-2014)
NFHS NATIONAL RUSHING LEADERS
Derrick Henry, Yulee, Fla. (12,144) (2009-2012)
Ken Hall, Sugar Land, Texas (11,232) (1950-1953)
Michael Hart, Nedrow Onondaga, N.Y. (11,045) (2000-2003)
Kevin Parks Jr., Mount Ulla West Rowan, N.C. (10,895) (2006-2009)
Jonathan Gray, Aledo, Texas (10,889) (2008-2011)
Toney Baker, Jamestown Ragsdale, N.C. (10,241) (2001-2004)
