Henry runs it up on Hogs again

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- No SEC team will be happier to see Tennessee senior tailback Travis Henry move on than Arkansas.
"I wish for Travis' sake that we played Arkansas each week," Vols offensive coordinator Randy Sanders said. "Because he really gets fired up and ready to play against them for some season."
Henry has had enough big games for Tennessee to rank third on its all-time rushing list with 2,755 yards and be within 136 of breaking James Stewart's Tennessee career record, but his two biggest games have been at Arkansas' expense.
Two years ago, in his first start, Henry rushed 32 times for 197 yards to help the Volunteers rally to beat Arkansas 28-24 in their closest call in a 13-0 national championship season.
That was Henry's highest rushing total until Saturday, when he gained 214 yards on 25 carries to help the Vols pound the Razorbacks 63-20 at Neyland Stadium.
In three games against Arkansas, Henry has rushed 69 times for 490 yards -- a 7.1-yard average -- and 3 touchdowns.
"I've been fortunate to have some good games against Arkansas," Henry said. "I'm not sure what it is, but today I knew I just had to make some big plays to help bring some excitement to our offense."
Henry, 5-11, 220 pounds, had his most exciting play with five minutes left in the first quarter when he broke a 55-yard run, highlighted by his stiff-arming Arkansas senior linebacker J.J. Jones, 6-0, 232, knocking him to the ground.
"Travis can run over people," said Tennessee offensive tackle Reggie Coleman, a junior from Jonesboro. "I don't think there are too many safeties, even strong safeties, that are going to bring down Travis 1-on-1."
It was pointed out to Coleman that the player Henry knocked to the ground was a linebacker, not a safety.
"A linebacker? Really?" Coleman said. "Wow, that's even more impressive."
Jones has made 150 career tackles, including four Saturday.
"But he wasn't going to make a tackle on that play," Henry said. "I wasn't going to be denied."
Until Henry's 55-yard run, which helped set up a touchdown on a fake field goal that gave Tennessee a 21-0 lead, the Razorbacks had held him to 24 yards on his first six carries, with free safety Ken Hamlin being on three tackles.
Vols freshman quarterback Casey Clausen hit some big passes -- including tying a school record with five touchdown passes -- against the Razorbacks' man-to-man coverages and that helped give Henry more running room as the game went on.
"We knew early they'd have their safeties up shallow, daring us to throw," Sanders said. "Our plan was to be a little hard-headed with the run to keep safeties up there, then make plays off the passing game.
"Fortunately we did, and once we got up on them and proved we could turn them deep, they backed the safeties up and that opened the running game up in second half."
Henry, who was held to 50 yards on 25 carries against Memphis last week, credited the Vols' offensive line for more than quadrupling that total on the same amount of carries against Arkansas.
"Against Memphis we didn't run the ball very effectively, so we took that as a challenge and we came into this game determined to run the football," Henry said. "Our offensive line did a great job of coming off the ball, and they gave me an opportunity to get in the secondary and break some tackles."
Coleman said the linemen didn't have to hold their blocks for long once Henry got untracked.
"When Travis saw the holes, he was gone," Coleman said. "I mean, all I saw was a flash go by me on some plays.
"When he runs like that, any defense in America is going to have trouble bringing him down."
But no defense seems to have more trouble bringing down Henry than Arkansas.

This article was published on Sunday, November 12, 2000

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