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James Franklin called him a “game-wrecker.” It’s only a bit of a stretch to say that Quadree Henderson was a season-wrecker for Penn State and its coach in 2016.
Pitt’s All-America return man played a huge role in short-circuiting the Nittany Lions’ 21-point comeback when the teams met last September at Heinz Field.
Penn State had cut Pitt’s lead to 35-31 in the fourth quarter before a misplaced kickoff gave Henderson a chance to return it 84 yards to set up what proved to be the winning touchdown in a 42-39 Panthers victory.
Three months later, that loss almost certainly kept the Lions out of the College Football Playoff despite winning the Big Ten.
With Penn State holding the same lofty goals this season, the team is being extra wary of Henderson’s presence on Saturday’s game at Beaver Stadium.
“Quadree Henderson, in my opinion, is the issue in the game,” Franklin said. “He’s the guy you go into the game and you say, ‘Who’s the guy that can be a game-changer or a game-wrecker,’ however you want to describe it. He’s that guy.
“So we have to have a plan for him to try to limit the impact that he’ll have in this game.”
The first onus will be on new kickoff man Tyler Davis, who replaces the departed Joey Julius. Four of Davis’ seven kickoffs against Akron in last week’s opener went for touchbacks.
According to Franklin and Penn State players, the Lions have enlisted true freshman K.J. Hamler and Josh McPhearson to simulate Henderson in practice this week. Hamler in particular is known for his skills in the return game, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him hold down that role for the Lions in the future.
Even if Penn State is able to neutralize Henderson on kickoffs, the Lions expect to deal with him heavily on defense as well.
Last year’s matchup saw Pitt hurt the Lions with jet sweeps and various misdirection plays, with Henderson rushing for 58 yards on just four attempts.
In the Panthers’ 2017 opener against Youngstown State, Henderson ran for 77 yards and finished with 155 all-purpose yards, including his work in the return game.
“He’s a big weapon for them with the ball in his hands,” senior cornerback Grant Haley said. “They know he’s an explosive player. They use him on sweeps and screen passes and just try to get him into open space with the ball in his hands, because that’s what he does best.”
In last season’s matchup, the Panthers’ gameplan was installed by first-year offensive coordinator Matt Canada. His work throughout 2016 was impressive enough that he got a sizable raise to jump to LSU for the same position over the winter.
Though Canada is gone, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi reached out to a former colleague to replace him in Shawn Watson, the former Texas offensive coordinator.
Despite the change, the Lions aren’t expecting any dramatic differences in the Panthers’ offense.
“Pat’s running a program where he has systems that he believes in, and he’s going to hire coordinators to come in and run those systems,” Franklin said. “So although it’s a different guy doing it, he went out and hired a guy with a similar philosophy as his.
“Obviously there’s some tweaks, but when you watch … it looks like the same stuff that they ran last year — trades, shifts, motions, unbalanced, fly sweep, fake fly sweep, inside zone, power split zone — those types of things. I think it’s very similar. It’s very similar.”