NEW ORLEANS (WTKR) — If there was any concern about the status of his injured leg, Jason Henderson put them to rest on Tuesday.
Old Dominion's All-American linebacker was part of the silver and blue's representation at Sun Belt Media Days in Louisiana, along with offensive lineman Santana Saunders and head coach Ricky Rahne. The senior out of Pennsylvania took home the league's Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, just a few months after his 2023 came to a close in the Monarchs' regular season finale after injuring his left leg.
Henderson indicated during ODU's time at the podium that he's preparing for fall camp like he's ready to go.
"I'm feeling really good. It's nice to be out on the field working out with the guys," he said. "Back out on the field, having a great time with the guys, and it's been a great summer so far."
The fourth year led the FBS in tackles in 2022, breaking an ODU and Sun Belt season record in that category with 179. He was on track to lead the nation again last season before his injury.
Part of returning to the field is the mental side of things, something Henderson has had to grapple with.
"People like Santana (Saunders), everybody will say, 'Hey, how are you doing,'" he said. "Making sure I'm doing good mentally. That really helped boost my confidence in the rehab."
"It's been a hard recovery but (Rahne) as well as the rest of the staff and the whole program at ODU has really done a good job about helping me get through it."
"When these injuries happen, we need to be able to support these young men," Rahne said. "I think the things our university is doing and other universities to support these people through these sort of things is awesome."
Henderson is one of 11 returning starters for the Monarchs, which is coming off a 6-7 season that saw ODU win its final two games of the regular season to become bowl eligible.
ODU was picked to finish sixth in the Sun Belt's East Division, coming up 11th out of the 14 teams in the conference in the overall tally.
"If I can give one piece of advice to everybody, it's not worry what other people's opinions of you are," Rahne said. "We're focused on what we can do, what we have to do to win games."
The silver and blue's schedule includes the league's division favorites in Appalachian State and Texas State, a visit from Virginia Tech, and the season opener against South Carolina on August 31.
Rather than thinking of the schedule as a hurdle, ODU finds the challenge something to embrace.
"This is an awesome opportunity for each of our young men to know that they're going to play in the best Group of Five conference in the country," Rahne said. "And we get to play great football week in and week out, that everybody's going to know, 'The team I just played is well coached and is probably going to play in a bowl game.'"
"We're focused on what's in front of us, and that's camp," Saunders said. "Not focused too early on the season, don't want to look too far ahead."
Defensive lineman Denzel Lowry landed on the All-Sun Belt's preseason second team.
