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Last Chance U star Malik Henry named starting quarterback for Nevada

By Brad Berreman

TALLAHASSEE, FL - OCTOBER 1: Quarterback Malik Henry #6 of the Florida State Seminoles before the game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Doak Campbell Stadium on Bobby Bowden Field on October 1, 2016 in Tallahassee, Florida. North Carolina upset the 12th ranked Florida State 37 to 35. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)
TALLAHASSEE, FL - OCTOBER 1: Quarterback Malik Henry #6 of the Florida State Seminoles before the game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Doak Campbell Stadium on Bobby Bowden Field on October 1, 2016 in Tallahassee, Florida. North Carolina upset the 12th ranked Florida State 37 to 35. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images) /
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From Florida State to Last Chance U to starting quarterback for Nevada. It’s been quite the journey for Malik Henry.

After a 54-3 loss to Hawaii in their last game on Sept. 28, where they were held to just 203 yards of offense, Nevada head coach Jay Norvell is making a switch at quarterback. According to Chris Murray of Nevada Sports Network, Malik Henry will start on Saturday against San Jose State.

If Henry’s name sounds familiar, it should. He walked on at Nevada last January after two seasons at Independence Community College in Kansas, as the school was featured on the Netflix series “Last Chance U.”

Before that, Henry landed at Florida State as a four-star recruit and the No. 4 pro-style quarterback in the 2016 class. He was suspended indefinitely in mid-August of that year by then-head coach Jimbo Fisher, for an unspecified violation of team rules. He was reinstated a month later, before ultimately not playing, taking a redshirt for that season and deciding to leave Tallahassee.

Nevada is 3-2 this season, so it’s not quite panic time. But they are tied for 114th in the country in total offense (331 yards per game) and tied for 96th in the country in pass offense (203.8 yards per game). Primary quarterbacks Carson Strong and Cristian Solano have combined for 970 passing yards with five touchdowns and seven interceptions this season. Against Hawaii, the two combined to go 18-for-31 for 105 yards with two interceptions. Henry has seen action in one game thus far, against UTEP in September, completing all three of his passes.

Norvell spoke about the decision to start Henry after he took most of the first-team practice reps during the bye week.

"We are going to start Malik Henry at quarterback this week,”   I just feel like at this point in the season with where we are as a team that Malik deserves his opportunity. It ain’t musical chairs. Malik is going to play. His opportunity to play is this week. We’ll do what we feel like we have to do as a team to win."

Henry seems to have a chance to take permanent hold of the starting job, as Nevada starts conference play in earnest against a San Jose State team that is also 3-2. After this week, four of the Wolfpack’s next five games are on the road with trips to Utah State (Oct. 19), Wyoming (Oct. 26), San Diego State (Nov. 9) and Fresno State (Nov. 23).

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