BALTIMORE — The Ravens are well-acquainted with Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry. His stiff-arm of safety Earl Thomas III was the indelible image of last season’s stunning 28-12 divisional-round upset.
He broke hearts in Baltimore again this season. In Week 11, his 29-yard touchdown run in overtime sealed a comeback victory for the Titans, who trailed 21-10 in the second half. The loss dropped the Ravens to 6-4, forcing them to win five of their last six games to get into the playoffs.
Now, Henry is on a collision course with the Ravens again, this time in Nashville for a wild-card playoff game.
Here’s what you need to know about the Titans’ star:
— He was a high school legend
Henry was an immediate start at Yulee High School outside Jacksonville, Florida, rushing for 2,465 yards and 26 touchdowns as a freshman. He only got better.
Bigger and stronger than most of his peers, he set the national high school rushing record with 12,124 career yards, including 4,260 yards and 55 touchdowns during his senior season in 2012. He rushed for 510 yards and six touchdowns in one game alone that season, and had three other 400-yard rushing games.
According to The Washington Post, Henry was benching 365 pounds, clean-jerking 315 pounds, squatting 500 pounds and deadlifting 550 pounds as a senior to go with 4.5-second speed in the 40-yard dash.
“A lot of players worried about how to approach him or what kind of technique to use to get him down. It takes more than one player to tackle him,” a former high school opponent told The Post last year. “Derrick Henry was talked about a lot.”
— He was college teammates with a current Raven
A five-star prospect and the 12th-ranked player in the Class of 2013, Henry signed with Alabama over Georgia, Clemson, Florida and several other national powers. As a freshman, he played sparingly, rushing 32 times for 382 yards and three touchdowns behind future NFL players T.J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake.
In 2014, five-star cornerback Marlon Humphrey joined the Crimson Tide, ranked as the nation’s top player at his position and 11th overall. While Humphrey redshirted, Henry split time with Yeldon and rushed for 990 yards and five touchdowns.
His breakout season soon followed. As a junior, Henry exploded for a school- and Southeastern Conference-record 2,219 rushing yards, the fifth most in a single season by a Football Bowl Subdivision player. His 28 rushing touchdowns broke the SEC record. He was named the school’s second Heisman Trophy winner, following current Ravens running back Mark Ingram’s triumph in 2009. Alabama went 14-1, winning the inaugural College Football Playoff national championship with a 45-40 win over Clemson.
It was a banner year for Humphrey, too. Starting opposite former Gilman star and Ravens defensive back Cyrus Jones, he recorded three interceptions, two forced fumbles and eight pass breakups and was named one of the top freshmen in the SEC. Henry was picked 45th overall by the Titans in the 2016 draft, while Humphrey was taken by the Ravens with the 16th overall selection a year later.
Before the teams met in the postseason last year, Humphrey, coming off his first Pro Bowl and All-Pro selection, joked that he needed “to get an extra lift in” before trying to tackle the league’s rushing champion. His words proved prophetic.
