2025 Dynasty Rookie Early Look: TreVeyon Henderson, RB Ohio State
TreVeyon Henderson had a chance to be one of the top running backs in a bad class last year. Instead, he decided to go back to school to try to improve on his injury-ravaged 2023 season. He certainly improved, but the arrival of Quinshon Judkins prevented Henderson from being the team’s bellcow running back in 2024. Despite the added competition in the backfield, Henderson had a really good, efficient season for the Buckeyes. Of course, he also has a chance to put the cherry on top of his college career with a win in the College Football National Championship on Monday. Did the gamble to go back to school pay off for Henderson, who now has a lot more competition at his position in the 2025 NFL Draft class?
Recruitment
Henderson’s recruiting profile, courtesy of 247Sports.
Henderson was the number one running back recruit in the 2021 high school class. Coming out of the Richmond, Virginia area, Henderson was a highly sought-after recruit. He was a high school track star, and led Hopewell to a 15-0 record and a Class 3 state championship in his junior year. He was the Virginia Gatorade Football Player of the Year that season, rushing for over 4,000 yards and 50 touchdowns. He did not play in his senior season, due to the pandemic.
Henderson received offers from nearly every big college football program in the country. He eventually committed to Ohio State, despite never visiting the campus. He enrolled in 2021 and joined the team for that season.
Collegiate Career
Henderson’s collegiate stats courtesy of Sports Reference.
It took almost no time at all for Henderson to become a critical piece of the Buckeyes offense. In his third collegiate game, Henderson broke Archie Griffin’s freshman single-game school rushing record with 277 yards on 24 carries and three touchdowns against Tulsa. His freshman year would end up being the best of his college career. He racked up 1,248 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns, adding 312 yards and four touchdowns through the air. All of those numbers are career highs for Henderson. He broke Ohio State’s freshman record for touchdowns from scrimmage with 19. That number was second in the Big Ten in 2021, ninth in the nation. He was fourth in the Big Ten in rushing yards.
Henderson’s biggest red flag is his injury history. He missed significant time in his sophomore and junior seasons due to injuries. A broken foot that required surgery forced him to miss five games in 2022. In 2023, he only played in ten games. He seemed a step slower in these seasons, rushing for under six yards a carry each year. He was considered one of the top running back prospects coming out for the 2024 NFL Draft (you can see in this article from January of 2024 that he was DLF’s number one running back prospect at the end of the season), but he decided to go back to school for another season in Columbus.
Henderson entered the 2024 season healthy, and he was able to stay healthy throughout the whole season. Some of the credit for his health could be a minimized role with the arrival of Ole Miss transfer Quinshon Judkins. In each of his first three seasons, Henderson averaged at least 13.4 carries per game. In 2024, that number plummeted to just 8.8. With fresher legs, he excelled, rushing for a career-high 7.3 yards per attempt. He also matched a career-high in receptions with 27 for 284 yards and a touchdown. All of this with one more game remaining, Monday’s National Championship game against Notre Dame. With no eligibility remaining, he’ll enter the NFL Draft this spring.
Strengths
.@OhioStateFB RB TreVeyon Henderson (@TreVeyonH4) hit a max speed of 20.4 mph on this catch and run. #ReelSpeed #GoBucks @11W @jbook37
🎥: @CBSSportsCFB
🔗 https://t.co/orrD059ykP pic.twitter.com/4X7OKh8diK
— Reel Analytics (@RAanalytics) November 7, 2023
- SPEED. He’s reportedly run a 4.39 40-yard dash in the past (only Isaac Guerendo and Jaylen Wright ran a faster running back time than that at last year’s Combine). His personal record at the 100-meter dash in high school was 10.9.
- NFL size despite his track speed
- Elusiveness, fourth in yards after contact per attempt in college football last year (min. 100 carries).
- Improvement as a receiver year-to-year
- Succeeded in gap and zone schemes throughout his career
- Only one fumble in four seasons
Weaknesses
- Injury issues have held him back in his collegiate career
- May not be able to handle a full workload
- Freshman year was the best year of his collegiate career
- Inconsistent as a pass blocker
- Vision can be unreliable
Draft Value
Mock Draft history for Henderson courtesy of Mock Draft Database
Henderson has a good chance to be a day two pick in April’s NFL Draft. Mock Draft Database ranks him as the 73rd overall player on their consensus big board. That makes him the fifth-highest-ranked running back, behind Ashton Jeanty, Omarion Hampton, Kaleb Johnson and teammate Quinshon Judkins. This is a strong running back class, and Henderson likely would’ve been higher than the RB5 in last year’s draft. Despite that, he could still be a first-round rookie draft pick. While this is a stronger RB class, it’s weaker at the wide receiver position.
If he is a day-three pick, that will be nice for his dynasty value, but landing spot is more important for running backs than draft capital can be. Look at last year’s rookie success stories at the position. Bucky Irving, Isaac Guerendo, Braelon Allen and Tyrone Tracy Jr were the biggest success stories, but they were all day three picks. A path to relevancy early on is crucial for dynasty fantasy football success.
Dynasty Outlook
The DLF Consensus Expert Rookie Rankings have Henderson as the number 14 rookie overall and the fifth running back off the board. All but one of the rankers have Judkins as the preferred Ohio State running back, but Rob Willette has Henderson at six overall while Judkins is at 10. He’s the highest on Henderson, while Ken Kelly has him the lowest at 19 overall.
Henderson has incredible upside thanks to his speed. It’s a quality you can’t teach, and Henderson absolutely has it. In recent years, we’ve seen some speed-first running backs succeed more in the pros than they ever did in college, specifically De’Von Achane and Jahmyr Gibbs. It appeared this season that Henderson got his explosiveness back after a few years of injuries, so if those problems are behind him, he could have a path to success in the pros. He’s more likely the lightning side of a thunder-and-lightning backfield duo. The medical evaluations at the NFL Combine will be very important. If he comes out of those clean, he could climb up into day two, especially if he has a big game against Notre Dame on Monday.
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