To bounce back from foot injury, Ohio State football's TreVeyon Henderson turned to track

Columbus Dispatch
The path TreVeyon Henderson plotted in his recovery from a foot injury involved a return to his hometown in Virginia.
It was over a span of about three weeks in May when he went back to Hopewell High School, reconvening with his old track and field coach for a series of workouts.
Kerry Gray had led him through similar routines in previous years when Henderson dropped in between semesters at Ohio State, but their time together this past spring carried an added urgency.
Torn ligaments and a broken bone in Henderson’s left foot, already miring his sophomore season, required surgery in December, a procedure that limited him for months and led him to wait until April before being fully cleared for a return.
Henderson sought to regain the speed and explosiveness that made him an emerging star at running back for the Buckeyes when he rushed for more than 1,000 yards as a freshman in 2021.
“Off of surgery, you’re not just going to go and be the same person,” Henderson said, “so I had to earn those tools back.”
The resolve led him to work out with Gray multiple times a week before returning to Columbus and going through Ohio State’s summer strength and conditioning program.
“He put me through a lot,” Henderson said. “I ain’t going to lie.”
The variety of exercises involved sprints. Henderson went through 80-meter repeats on the high school’s track and added downhill runs on sloped parking for buses lot just outside of Gray’s office.
Moving downhill was part of an effort to add about six inches to the length of Henderson’s stride.
“It naturally makes you want to cover more ground,” Gray said.
But a bulk of the exercises involved plyometrics, a way to strengthen his calves, hamstrings, quads and glutes after months of rest.
Henderson performed lateral and vertical jumps and box step-ups. To raise the level of difficulty, he held weight dumbbells and added more time to drills to increase his stamina.
Gray considered the plyometrics valuable for strengthening Henderson’s calf muscles, which weren’t used as often in the aftermath of surgery, especially when his left foot was in a protective walking boot.
“They’ve probably taken the most time off,” Gray said.
Eyeing a return to full strength, Henderson held the same determination this spring as he showed Gray at Hopewell several years ago.
“I will always say he was a pro’s pro at 16 years old,” Gray said. “He would show up. He would do the weightlifting. He would do dynamic flexibility.”
Henderson ran track for the Blue Devils outside of the football season and won a Class 3 indoor title in the 55 meters in 6.48 seconds in March 2020.
The rest of his high school career was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. He enrolled at Ohio State the following winter.
But running track has remained at least a part of his offseason conditioning with the Buckeyes. Building up speed matters.
“The goal has always been to go through the season with as minimal wear and tear on your body as possible,” Gray said. “It’s a speed game.
“You have to be fast. You have to get through that hole. You’re 212 (pounds). A defensive lineman is 320. You don’t want to meet that force. By the time that defensive lineman comes off that block, you need to be gone. By the time the linebacker comes off his block, you need to be gone. It’s a game changer.”
Henderson said he felt close to his full speed once he was out of his walking boot. Over spring practices in March and April, he participated in non-contact drills.
But in the months leading up to the start of preseason training camp, which began last Thursday, he felt as if he had regained his form.
The issue from his foot had subsided.
“It feels great,” he said. It feels better than ever, probably better than it was before.”
Over the first few days of camp, Buckeyes running backs coach Tony Alford took notice and thought that Henderson’s “energy level” stood out.
“You can see his speed,” Alford said, “and his burst is back, and his change of direction. He’s looked really good.”
Alford held back his praise at that point. The Buckeyes had not yet progressed into practices in full pads.
Henderson will need to show more from “finishing runs” to “physicality.”
“But that’ll all come back,” Alford said. “That comes with playing ball. He knows what we’re looking for.”