Chad Henne

Chad Henne

Chad Henne in action against the New York Jets in 2009.
Miami Dolphins
Career information
College:	Michigan
NFL draft:	2008 / round: 2 / pick: 57
Career history
Miami Dolphins (2008–present)
Roster status:	Active
Career highlights and awards
College National 2004 All-American Freshman Team Quarterback 2006 Manning Award finalist 2006 Maxwell Award semifinalist 2006 Davey O'Brien Award semifinalist 2006 Walter Camp Award watchlist 2008 Capital One Bowl MVP 2008 Senior Bowl North Offensive MVP Conference 2004 All-Big Ten Conference Honorable Mention 2006 All-Big Ten Conference Second Team
Career NFL statistics as of 2009
TD–INT: 12–14 Passing yards: 2,949 QB Rating: 75.2 Stats at Pro Football Reference

Chad Steven Henne (born July 2, 1985) is an American football quarterback for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. He graduated from Wilson Senior High School and attended the University of Michigan. While attending Henne became the second all time true freshman starting quarterback in University of Michigan history; accumulated a total of 32 wins in regular season play, 8,740 offensive yards, and 87 touchdowns; and in 2008 led the Wolverines to a Bowl victory over the Florida Gators. He was subsequently announced as the game's MVP after throwing for over 350 yards.

Henne's professional career began when he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins, fifty-seventh overall in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft. Henne spent most of his rookie season on the bench under veteran quarterback Chad Pennington. In his sophomore season as a Dolphin, Henne stepped in to relieve the injured Pennington and started the remaining 13 games. Throwing 12 fantastic touchdowns.

Early years

Chad was born in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania to Sheldon and Suzanne Henne.

In 2000, fives games into his freshman season at Wilson Senior High School in West Lawn, Pennsylvania, Henne stepped in for the injured starting quarterback. After putting up quality numbers, the Bulldogs coach decided to allow Henne to finish the season as the starter. Finishing the 2000 season on a high note, Henne ended up starting his sophomore year and ultimately the rest of his high school career. At the end of his junior year in 2003, having been offered forty scholarships from various schools, Henne narrowed his college options down to five schools: Miami, Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, and Penn State. Before his first game as a senior, Henne announced his plans to become a Wolverine at the University of Michigan. By the end of his senior year in 2004, Henne had thrown for a total of 7,071 passing yards, ranking third all time in Pennsylvania state history. Following high school Henne played in the 2004 U.S. Army All-American Bowl as a member of the East team, along with current Dolphins teammate, Ryan Baker.

College career

Henne entered the 2004 college football season as a freshman for the Michigan Wolverines and third on the depth chart behind redshirt sophomore Matt Gutierrez and redshirt freshman quarterback Clayton Richard. The Monday following the season opener against Miami University, Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr announced Gutierrez would start even though he was suffering from a sore shoulder. A few days later Carr decided to allow Henne to start in relief of Gutierrez, a position Henne was not unfamiliar with.

Henne ended his first career game with a 43-10 win, completing 14 of 24 passes for 142 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The start allowed Henne to acquire the status of true freshman, the only other player in Michigan history to do so was Rick Leach in 1975.

Alongside freshman running back Mike Hart, he galvanized an explosive offensive unit that featured receivers Braylon Edwards, Jason Avant, and Steve Breaston. Henne's freshman season was highlighted by a triple-overtime win over rival Michigan State and a record-tying performance in the Rose Bowl against Texas. He also tied the Michigan season record for touchdown passes with 25, first set by Elvis Grbac in 1991.

2006 Michigan Wolverines football team huddle with #86 Mario Manningham, #7 Henne, #16 Adrian Arrington, #72 Rueben Riley, #54 Mark Bihl, #77 Jake Long

Henne was criticized in 2005 after the University of Michigan, ranked in the top five of the preseason polls, stumbled to a 3–3 start. The sophomore quarterback was particularly scrutinized after his performance in a close loss to Notre Dame, in which he completed fewer than half of his pass attempts and lost a fumble on the goal line. After their 3–3 start, Michigan won four consecutive games to clinch the program's 21st consecutive winning season

During his junior season in 2006, Henne completed 203 of 328 passes for 2,508 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions. He led the Wolverines to an impressive 11–0 start and a #2 ranking through the third week of November, but for the third straight year Michigan concluded their season by losing to Ohio State again and then dropping their bowl game, this time to USC.

During his senior year in 2007, Henne completed 162 of 278 passes for 1,938 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions. He suffered a knee injury in the first half of the second game of the season against Oregon, and sat out the second half, as well as subsequent games against Notre Dame and Penn State, before returning to the starting lineup against Northwestern. Henne played his final college game against Florida in the 2008 Capital One Bowl. Henne was named the MVP of the game after he led his team to a 41–35 victory over the Gators and reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Tebow.

For his career, Henne completed 828 of 1,387 passes for 9,715 yards, 87 touchdowns, and 37 interceptions. All five marks are school records. Henne's passing touchdown total is second in Big Ten Conference history.

Statistics

Career Statistics
			Passing								Rushing
Year	GP	GS	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Lng	TD	Int	Rat.	Att	Yds	Avg	Lng	TD
2004	12	12	240	399	60.2	2743	69	25	12	132.6	55	-137	-2.5	9	2
2005	12	12	223	382	58.4	2526	54	23	8	129.6	54	25	0.5	18	1
2006	13	13	203	328	61.9	2508	69	22	8	143.4	47	-83	-1.8	14	0
2007	10	8	162	278	58.3	1938	65	17	9	130.5	24	-120	-5.0	9	0
Total	47	45	828	1387	59.7	9715	69	87	37	133.9	180	-315	-1.8	18	3

Professional career

2008 season

Henne was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the second round (57th overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft. He was the fourth quarterback chosen, following Matt Ryan (Falcons), Joe Flacco (Ravens) and Brian Brohm (Packers). His left tackle at Michigan, Jake Long, was drafted by the Dolphins first overall.

Henne was a training camp holdout for under a day, agreeing to a four-year, $3.5 million contract with the team on July 26. He earned the #2 quarterback job behind starter Chad Pennington out of training camp.

On September 14, 2008 Chad Henne made his NFL debut with 9:42 left in the game against the Arizona Cardinals. Chad's first NFL play was a pass over the middle that was broken up. For the game, he was 7 of 12 for 67 yards with a passer rating of 74.0. He led the team to its only touchdown, with RB Ronnie Brown scoring on a 1-yard run. The Miami Dolphins however lost, 31–10.

Henne (right) with Dolphins backup Pat White in 2009.

2009 season

On March 25, 2009, ESPN analyst Chris Mortensen reported that the Dolphins had plans to groom Henne for the starting quarterback position by the 2010 season.

On September 27, 2009, in the early third quarter of their road game versus the San Diego Chargers, San Diego linebacker Kevin Burnett knocked Chad Pennington out of the game with a dislocated shoulder and a torn rotator cuff, and Henne was thrust into action. Though he led the Dolphins to ten points in the final 20 minutes of the game, he failed to throw his first regular season touchdown and even had a pass intercepted and returned for an easy touchdown by Eric Weddle.

After Chad Pennington's season ending injury, Henne made his first start on October 4, 2009, against the Buffalo Bills at home. Henne went 14–22 in his pass attempts with one touchdown pass in the Dolphins' 38–10 victory, lifting the team's record to 1–3.

In his 2nd NFL start, he led the underdog Dolphins over the Jets, 31–27, in a Monday Night Football game. He had 20 completions out of 26 attempts for 241 yards with two touchdowns, in this game Henne had his second win as starter and made a 53 yard TD completion to Ted Ginn, Jr.

Henne consistently improved as the season went on, passing for 335 yards against the New England Patriots in Week 13. In Week 15, Henne passed for 349 yards in a loss to the Tennessee Titans. In Week 16, Henne passed for 322 yards in a loss to the Houston Texans. In Week 17 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Henne sustained an eye injury and had to leave the game. This happened to be the turning point of the game, Henne had already completely 16 of 20 passes for 140 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Personal

Henne married Brittany Hartman on July 3, 2010, the day after his twenty-fifth birthday. The couple began dating when Henne was fourteen years old.

Statistics

			Passing											Rushing
Season	Team		GP	GS	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	TD	INT	Sack	Rating		Att	Yds	TD
2008	MIA		3	0	7	12	58.3	67	0	0	0	74.0		3	7	0
2009	MIA		14	13	274	451	60.8	2,878	12	14	26	75.2		16	32	1
2010	MIA		0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0.0		0	0	0
	TOTAL		17	13	281	463	59.6	2,945	12	14	26	74.6		19	39	1

See also

• Lists of Michigan Wolverines football passing leaders

External links

• Miami Dolphins bio