By Kyle LoJacono
Sunlake football player Zac Henderson signed an athletic scholarship on May 13 with Florida Institute of Technology despite missing four games with a broken leg his senior season.
“I had a lot of other offers, but I got hurt and Florida Tech was the only Florida school that stayed interested in me,” Henderson said. “There were others up north, but I’m from here so I wanted to stay here with the warm weather. The coach said they wanted me to be one of the first kids recruited by them. I liked the campus and my parents can make all the games.”
Florida Tech, located in Melbourne, will have its first football season in 2013 as a Division II program.
Henderson played wide receiver and safety as a senior at Sunlake, but will likely focus on offense with the Panthers.
He had 14 catches for 207 yards and two touchdowns while adding five tackles and two passes defensed as a senior despite missing four games with a broken fibula. Henderson was a threat to catch the long pass as he averaged just less than 15 yards per reception.
“When he came back, he wasn’t 100 percent,” said Sunlake coach Bill Browning. “He came back and gutted it out until it was stronger. He made some really big catches for us. He’s a huge reason we did what we did this year.”
Henderson moved up to varsity as a sophomore and started playing regularly as a junior. The Seahawks went 1-9 in 2008, but that total grew to 4-6 in 2009 and a program record 8-2 last season.
“It’s been tough the first few years, but it felt like home here,” Henderson said. “All the seniors stuck it out and wanted to stay here. We knew we could be good, it was just going to take a couple years.”
Henderson said he plans to study forensic science while playing at the next level.
“It’s a big opportunity,” Henderson said. “Not too many people get to do this, so you take the chance God blesses you with.”
–All stats as recorded to Maxpreps.com by coaches.
