Cason Henry knew immediately. His entire season, the eight months of work between the end of 2022 and the 2023 season opener, went down the drain in less than two minutes.

“I tell people all the time I knew when it happened,” Henry said. “I literally looked at the ref and said, ‘I’m done.’ I was like, there’s no way that this is happening. I kind of looked at the sky and was like, why me?”

Henry was starting his redshirt freshman season in Columbia after taking a backseat for most of the 2022 campaign, and he worked his way through a crowded offensive line room to earn the starting right tackle job. But it fell apart as soon as possible, literally.

On the first offensive series of the season against North Carolina in Charlotte, Henry went down with a knee injury. He left the game immediately, and it all but ended his season. He returned for brief reps in November against Jacksonville State, but was shut down for the year following that game.

“It was incredibly frustrating because I worked really hard to get to that moment,” Henry said. “But I knew I would overcome it, and it was only a matter of time. It didn’t keep me down permanently.”

Unfortunately for Henry and the Gamecocks, it was just the start of a brutal season for offensive line injuries. Every week someone new was joining Henry in the training room, a constant cycle of nagging injuries and season-ending ones all leading to nine different offensive line combinations in the first nine games of the season.

It took a toll on everyone in the room and of course on the overall offensive production, but also helped Henry in his own unique way. He was still one of the youngest players in the room, but watching games and practices from the sideline changed his perspective on football and engaged his leadership qualities.

“I had to kind of look at it from a different way in the next couple of days after that incident. I flipped my viewpoint around and said, ‘This is a learning experience.’ Now I can learn to become a better teammate. I can watch my guys play and support people through that way, not necessarily in a starting role now, but as an injured guy helping my other injured teammates.

“I found another role on the team during that time, and I think it made me a better person and a better teammate overall.”

Now he is back and fully healthy, once again working at right tackle trying to crack the starting lineup for the Aug. 31 season opener against Old Dominion. His reps in team practices and scrimmages have been exclusively there, but he has flipped over to the left side on his own time just in case another injury situation arises.

“Stance, starts, sets, hand placement, foot placement, all that stuff I can do on my own,” Henry said. “I just play the game in my head. I’m saying, ‘Okay so I have a combo with my left guard, what are my steps here?’ I have to kind of flip it in my mind from right tackle. If you know the offense well enough you know everybody’s role on the O-line, so it’s not very hard to just kind of flip it in my head.”

Right, left, it does not matter. He is just happy to be back.

***************************************************************************

Want 75 percent off your first year on GamecockScoop? Take advantage of our new camp promo, with the offer valid through August 16th! Use the code CAMPSCOOP24 at checkout to activate this offer.