ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—If Travis Henry can’t carry the load Sunday against San Diego, the Denver Broncos’ Plan B is pretty good.
Undrafted rookie Selvin Young is leading the league with a 9.2-yard average.
“He is?” tight end Daniel Graham marveled. “That’s impressive.”
Young has rushed 15 times for 138 yards, mostly on third downs while Henry is catching his breath on the sideline.
But with Henry injuring both his right knee and right ankle against Indianapolis last week, Young could get his first NFL start.
The Broncos might have to learn to live without Henry. Newsday reported Thursday that Henry is suing the NFL in an effort to keep the league from using the results of a drug test to suspend him, according to court papers filed in federal court.
While in Tennessee, Henry was suspended four games in September 2005 by the NFL for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. He would face a long suspension if he failed another drug test.
Coach Mike Shanahan couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday night. In regard to Henry’s injury status, Shanahan earlier said Henry is day-to-day and that he participated in a walk through Thursday morning but didn’t practice. Henry is the league’s leading rusher at 433 yards.
Young, the former Texas Longhorns running back, is ready to step in.
“I’m the type of person that I like to have the ball in my hands and I like to make big plays,” Young said.
He’s already turned in one impact play for the Broncos, and it had nothing to do with feet, but his heads-up thinking on a fumble.
On Denver’s final drive against Buffalo in the opener, quarterback Jay Cutler blindly pitched a lateral to his left that sailed over Young’s head. The ball was live until Young smartly punched it out of bounds, drawing an illegal batting penalty.
Shanahan called it the smartest penalty he’s seen in a long, long time. It kept the Broncos’ late fourth-quarter drive alive for what would turn into a game-winning field goal by Jason Elam as time expired.
“I felt extra good after the game,” Young said.
Young has followed a similar path as Mike Bell, an undrafted rookie out of Arizona last year who was the surprise of camp and eventually settled into a backup role behind Tatum Bell. Young impressed Denver so much in camp the team decided to move Bell, who scored eight times in 2006, to fullback.
Now, it’s just a matter of getting caught up on some light reading—his thick playbook.
“I’ve tried to learn as much as I can and that’s helped me,” he said.
One thing he isn’t as he prepares for what could be his first extensive action is scared.
Young said the only thing that frightens him is the dark, a fear that dates to growing up as the second of five boys sharing the same bedroom. He was constantly kicked in the middle of the night.
“Toes, feet, everything in your mouth,” he said. “There was a bunch of us.”
Texas coach Mack Brown used to kid Young about his fear of the dark. Brown told him it was a good thing the Longhorns played under the lights.
“That was a little thing we had at Texas,” Young said with a grin. “He’d always come up to me and be like, ‘The lights are on.’ I’d be like, ‘Well, I’m looking forward to having a good day today.’ The lights go off and come find me in the locker room.”
Young shouldn’t have to worry Sunday—it’s a day game.
Young played in 49 games with the Longhorns, rushing for 1,713 yards and 25 touchdowns. He also threw a key block on Vince Young’s game-winning touchdown against USC in the Rose Bowl, clinching the national title for Texas two years ago.
But it was a collegiate career marred by injuries, including a shattered right ankle in 2004 that required doctors to piece it back together like a puzzle with a plate and 11 screws.
“It was an up-and-down career, but it allowed me to build heart,” Young said.
That’s what impresses former Longhorns defensive lineman and current Broncos rookie Tim Crowder about Young—his ability to bounce back.
“The way he overcomes adversity, it tells you how strong of a person he is,” Crowder said. “I haven’t seen him this healthy in a long time. He’s definitely healthy and he looks really good.”
The Broncos have confidence in him should Henry be limited or inactive Sunday.
“He’s shown he’s a competitor,” Graham said. “He runs hard. He’s been making a lot of big plays for us.”
In a limited role, too.
Young had a 40-yard run against Oakland and a 32-yard sprint against the Colts.
He doesn’t buy into the notion that his big-play ability will be marginalized if he gets more carries, either.
“My mentality and approach to it are to do what I’ve been doing and just let the numbers come out at the end of the day,” Young said. “My mind-set is whenever I get the ball I run and don’t leave anything out there.
“I feel if I keep that mind-set, positive things happened before and they’re going to continue to happen.”
