Walter Camp Names Henderson

Walter Camp All-America Team

MARYVILLE – It's three out of four for Maryville's Grant Henderson when it comes to 2024 All-America First Team honors. Not bad at all.
 
Maryville's defensive backfield star capped a wonderful postseason Wednesday by earning his spot on the first Walter Camp Football Foundation All-America Team for Division III. Henderson's bag of awards and certificates now includes All-America First Team honors from the American Football Coaches Association, the Associated Press and now Walter Camp.
 
D3football.com named Henderson to its All-America Second Team last week.
 
"We're obviously thrilled for Grant," Maryville head coach Ben Fox said. "It is another incredible honor to be part of such a prestigious team in the first ever Walter Camp Division III All-America Team. That is over 100 years of history, and I could not be happier and prouder for him to receive such a well-deserved honor.
 
"For him to be another All-America First Team selection and a true Consensus All-American, we are thrilled for him and the future he has.
 
Dockery Most Recent All-America First Team
Henderson is Maryville's first All-America First Team selection since Steve Dockery was named to the 1967 Associated Press Little All-America Team when there was only one combined All-America squad for all smaller-division programs. The Little All-America team comprised players from what is now the Football Championship Subdivision, Division II, Division III and the NAIA.
 
Henderson is Maryville's first football All-American since offensive lineman Rance Hightower made the 2013 AFCA squad. One year later, defensive lineman Zach Capehart was named to a D3football.com All-America Honorable Mention. Other recent Maryville All-Americans in other sports are Clarence McLean in 2024 men's track and field, Myles Rasnick in 2022-23 men's basketball and Ndubueze Henry in 2021 men's soccer.

MC's senior cornerback finished fourth in the country in passes defended, which combines interceptions with pass breakups. The Miami native intercepted four passes and compiled 15 pass breakups. The latter figure missed by one of tying a Scots program record.
 
Henderson played in all 11 games for Maryville, finishing third on the team with 50 tackles. In the NCAA Division III Football Championship Second Round game at DePauw, Henderson led the Scots with nine tackles, eight of which were solo. He deflected two passes in that game to establish a personal season best of 15 and fall just one shy of the program mark set by Nick White in 1995.



Scots Finish with Top-20 Defense
After compiling 13 PBUs in 2022, Henderson becomes the first Scot to earn placement twice on Maryville's Season Pass Breakups top 10 chart. His 15 PBUs this season tie for second all-time and his 13 in 2022 tie for fifth.
 
Henderson was a key contributor to Maryville's rock solid defense in 2024. He intercepted four passes, returning one 58 yards to spark the team's 44-16 thumping of Huntingdon. During Maryville's return to the NCAA playoffs at Berry, Henderson picked off one of three MC interceptions.
 
In November, Henderson was named to the All-USA South First Team.
 
National statistics are now final, and Maryville finished second in Division III in pass efficiency defense with a rating of 94.11, eighth in total defense at 234.6 yards, 15th in rush defense at 73.5 yards and 20th in scoring defense at 14.5 points.
 
The Scots finished 9-2 for the second nine-win season in program history and the first since 1946. Maryville won in the NCAA playoffs for the first time and compiled a perfect 7-0 record in its final season of USA South competition.
 
Next year, Maryville joins the Southern Athletic Association for football.