'He's the electric one, man': How BHP football's Marquise Henderson gets his shocking statistics
HONEA PATH – The statistics seem like they couldn't possibly be correct.
Belton-Honea Path junior Marquise Henderson, one of the best high school football running backs in South Carolina, is averaging 14.6 yards per carry this season. For his three-year career, he’s averaged 11.6 yards on 315 attempts. An automatic first down, basically, every time he’s touched the ball.
Henderson doesn’t even have the most carries on his team and still ranks fourth in the state, according to MaxPreps, with 1,522 rushing yards. He has more yards than the No. 7 player, Trey Thompson of Andrew Jackson, with half the attempts.
With Henderson leading a rushing attack that piles up more than 300 yards per game, Belton-Honea Path is undefeated and is focused on its first state championship since 2004. The Bears (9-0, 3-0) are ranked No. 2 in Class AAA statewide media poll, behind only 9-0 Daniel, and are No. 3 in the 864Huddle Super 25 list of best teams in the Upstate. They average 52.7 points per game, and Henderson has 25 of their 47 rushing touchdowns.
Belton-Honea Path plays at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Wren (5-4, 4-0) for the Region 2-AAA championship and a No. 1 seed in the playoffs beginning next week. The Hurricanes under first-year coach Anthony Frate are trying to go unbeaten in a region for the first time since 2014.
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Henderson (5-foot-10, 170 pounds) is already rated a three-star recruit by 247Sports, which has him as the state’s fifth-best overall player for the Class of 2025. He has offers from seven Power Five teams and seven Group of Five teams.
“Marquise has tremendous acceleration when he sees a hole,” Belton-Honea Path coach Russell Blackston said. “All you need to do is watch his highlights, man. When he doesn’t want to get tackled, he doesn’t get tackled.”
Blackson likened those football rushing lanes to ones in a bowling alley.
Seven of BHP's nine top offensive linemen and tight ends from last season's 10-2 team are back. They are the sweep bar that protects and clears. Senior fullback Shaheem Robbs (5-8, 200) is the pin-buster.
“It starts with those guys up front,” Blackston said. “Shaheem is a bowling ball of butcher knives. I learned a long time ago that if you have a change-of-pace back, that’s when you can really be good.”
“When I keep going up the middle, it makes all the players get in the box,” said Robbs, who has 860 rushing yards with 14 touchdowns on 123 carries, 19 more than Henderson . “Then Qwez gets going. He’s got space. He’s explosive. You’ve just got to give him the ball and he’ll make a play.”
“Marquise is the electric one, man,” Blackston said. “He’s the one that can make things go. That’s why he has 25 touchdowns. He can go.”
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Henderson started his freshman season at cornerback. The offensive backfield was already crowded, and this was a way to at least get the young talent on the field.
That lasted two games before he joined the backfield crowd and was on his way to 892 rushing yards, 9.7 per carry, with seven touchdowns.
“I was OK playing defense. I liked it,” Henderson said. “But I knew where I wanted to play and where I needed to play.”
“He’s a special talent,” Robbs said. “He’s been playing like this since he was young.”
Robbs and Henderson have been friends and teammates, most of the time in the same backfield, since they were 8 and 7, respectively.
“Shaheem is like my brother,” Henderson said. “He worked with me through the process when I was a freshman and he’s still helping me. He wears the defenses down. That’s what gives me a chance to break out a big run. He’s also a team leader. He keeps everybody straight. He always has a positive attitude.”
Henderson also acknowledged the sweep bar knocking down defensive pins in front of him. The offensive line includes senior center Judson Thomas, junior tackle Oliver Marett (6-7, 290) as well as sophomore guards Keylan Dixon and Keagan Mosher.
“I appreciate them every day,” Henderson said. “Those boys are working. Probably the best front in the state.”
Henderson has offers from ACC schools Boston College, Georgia Tech, N.C. State, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Virgina Tech as well as Arizona. He also has offers from Appalachian State, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, James Madison and Liberty.
He said Wednesday on social media that he will announce a verbal commitment Monday and is down to six finalists: Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, N.C. State, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Virginia Tech.
This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Unpacking Belton-Honea Path RB Marquise Henderson's unbelievable stats
