At first, Daiyan Henley didn’t even want to play linebacker. His defensive coordinator didn’t want him to, either.
It was August 2020, a few weeks before Nevada opened its season, and Henley had secured the starting nickel cornerback job. He was thrilled.So when then-Wolf Pack defensive analyst Riccardo Stewart suggested to Henley he ask about a switch to linebacker, Henley avoided it.But Henley caved and posed the switch to defensive coordinator Brian Ward.
Henley played six positions — quarterback, wide receiver, running back, cornerback, safety and the kicker for kickoffs — at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles.Then, in 2019, he played four games as a reserve, took a redshirt and didn’t progress — at least through in-game reps — again.But in practice, Henley started to alter that trajectory. The Nevada coaching staff in 2019 wanted Henley to learn the defense by serving as the scout team’s wide receiver. Then, Ward and Stewart arrived.
“In my mind, I’ve always thought, give me the best athlete and let’s put them at a position where they can just be athletic, smart and make plays,” Stewart told The Post. “I personally think that [Henley] probably still could’ve been an NFL player at safety. I really do. But I think that he does the most damage exactly where he’s at right now.”He needed his eyes to slow down. His instincts needed sharpening.
He repeated drills to pick up keys, drills to work on cutbacks, drills to make sure that — in any scenario — Henley could diagnose a line of scrimmage, select his gap and burst through the opening before it slammed shut. Henley’s total tackles increased from 49 to 103 between 2020 and 2021 at Nevada, and he followed Ward to Washington State last season.
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