Chris_Henry's Blog

This was finals week at Arizona so it got a little busy for me. I met with my philosophy advisor to get everything in order so that I can return, probably next spring, to complete my final semester. Graduating from college is something that I promised my family and myself I would accomplish. I have only five classes left, two philosophy, two sign language and one in africano studies so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. As far as the weekend I am going to be here to help my friends celebrate. I am heading out in a few minutes to Syndric Steptoe's graduation party. As excited as my mom and grandmother are for me to graduate, they are even more excited about football right now. They are Titans through and through. It's been fun to share the experience with them. I am packing up and heading to Nashville next week for OTAs. I'll be there to workout with the team on the 16th but then jump back on a plane to Los Angeles for the Rookie Premier the 17th through the 20th. I'll be changing my clock a lot next week re-adjusting to the time zones. I guess we do a lot of photo shoots for the card companies in Los Angeles. It will be fun meeting all those other players. I'm looking forward to it.

When I walked into the Titans facility on Thursday it finally sunk in that I'm in the NFL and this is my job now. It was pretty weird, but people actually knew who I was when I got off the plane and started walking through the airport in Nashville. It was really cool hearing people already rooting for me and welcoming me to Nashville. I couldn't wait to get to work. I jumped on a shuttle to the facility and went with all the other players to get our physicals. I was pretty pumped to see they signed Biren Ealy as a free agent. We were teammates at Arizona before he transfered to the University of Houston. He's a really good wide receiver and it was really cool to be reunited with him. I couldn't wait to get to work and they put us to work pretty much right away. The camp was just for rookies and guys trying out so we got a lot of reps. I was rooming with Michael Griffin, our first round draft choice out of Texas. He's a great guy. We had a 6:30 wake up call and were over to the facility by 7:00 for morning meetings. We hit the field after that. We learned five or six plays the first day and three or four after that. Practice was roughly an hour and 45 minutes. We had only three running backs in camp, Danny Ware from Georgia and Nic Luke from Alabama A&M. It was a three man rotation so we got a lot of reps. We caught a lot of balls, went one on one with the linebackers and ran some 7 on 7. We were working right off the bat. I loved it and learned a lot. The playbook is very extensive so I have a lot of studying to do. Getting comfortable with the playbook is the biggest hurdle at this point. One thing Coach Chow said was he wants me to be doing everything at full speed, even if I run the wrong way on a play he wants me to do it full speed. Once I get comfortable with the plays the possibilities are endless. I didn't get to enjoy Nashville this time around. When I wasn't at practice or in meetings I was asleep at the hotel. Hopefully I can get some fishing in next time I am in town. That is definitely the plan. I know they have a lot of lakes and I heard they have one of the biggest bass fishing shops in the country. Fishing will definitely be a priority when I'm back in town. Football comes first, but I have to get some fishing in.

I'm so excited. You can imagine what it's like here. I was just chilling with my family and playing video games with my brother when I got the call from Tennessee's recruiting coordinator. He told me that the Titans were selecting me with the 50th pick. I got off the phone and didn't tell anyone what he said. I wanted to wait for it to show up on the television screen. When it did, everyone went crazy. Neighbors came running from across the street and my family was so happy. I hugged my mother. That was a great moment. Coach Fisher called me a few minutes later and said that he was excited to have me. He told me to get ready to work and that he couldn't wait to get me out there. I can't wait either. I'm supposed to get another call from them later on tonight to find out when I actually head to Tennessee. I'm just going to hang out for the rest of the night and try to answer all these phone calls. What a day!

It's great to be home spending time with family and friends. I'm driving up to see my grandmother today. I haven't seen her in so long. I'm looking forward to spending some time with her. I know the draft is coming up and my life is about to change, but my friends know that everything is still the same. When you have true friends, nothing ever changes. It's the same old stuff, same old joking around. It's been fun to see everyone and I know we're going to have a house full Saturday. There will be a good deal of people there and it will be spread out. They will be inside and outside, they'll be all over the place waiting to find out where I'm going to be drafted. The funny thing is I don't think I'll even watch TV. I'll be in the front yard shooting baskets, anything to keep my mind off of it. I'll be going fishing that morning with my dad and my brother. I'm not sure yet if my mom is going with us. We'll just go behind the house somewhere on the San Joaquin river. I'm sure we'll get a lot of catfish, but there's a good variety of fish out there ? blue gill and stripers. The stripers need to be seven inches if you want to keep them. Normally, I just catch and release, but sometimes we'll fry them up. If we get some good ones maybe we'll have them for the party.

My trip to Baltimore went really well also. I watched film and visited with the coaches. They have a great team and a great facility, but I have to be honest, they had the best game room of all the teams I visited. They all had nice player lounges, but this one was sweet. It had arcade games and a pool table. I was there with Yamon Figurs of Kansas State and we played pinball and this golf game together. It was a lot of fun. The Ravens room was huge and it had a collection of arcade games. That's what set it apart. Atlanta had a great room too. They had a clubhouse set-up that was nice. I heard Tampa Bay has a really good one too, but I didn't visit there. It's just nice being able to relax during a visit. They put you in the player lounge when you're waiting for the coaches. It's not like you go looking for the game room, but when they put you in there and tell you to help yourself, well, you just have go at it and start playing. Now that the trips are over, I'm heading to L.A. for a few days to have some fun with my girlfriend. I don't know what we're doing, but one thing is for certain, we're going to Magic Mountain. I heard that place is tight and I love roller coasters. I'm not sure what day I'll get there, but when I do make it there you're going to hear me laughing the whole time. It's going to be great.

I can barely keep my head on straight I have been so many places. I visited Chicago today and am now jumping on a plane to head home. This whole experience has been great. I have been excited at every place. I was in New England Wednesday and New Orleans and Baltimore before that. Even though the visits are all very similar, each place is unique. We spend time with the coaches watching film and answering questions. There is definitely a buzz in New England. The people and fans are just really proud and passionate about their team. I'm sure every city has passionate fans, but with all the Super Bowls in the last five or six years, there is just an added sense of pride in New England. That visit was a little more personal. It was the third time we have met with each other. We had talked at the Combine, in Arizona and now in New England. They gave me a tour of the facility. That stadium was amazing. From the outside it looked nice, but when you get on the inside it's unbelievable. Everybody has watched the Patriots play. I'm sure playing in that stadium is amazing. Its' so big and with those fans going crazy, the players must love it. I know I would.

I also visited Dallas last week. One of the highlights was meeting Mr. Jones. He was a really cool dude. We sat and talked for a little while. There is just so much history there and he's been involved in the NFL for a long time. You could feel the tradition walking in the building and sitting with him. It made the experience even better. My mom was really excited about that one. She's a huge Cowboys fan, always has been. I'm sure she'd be happy if the Cowboys drafted me. I'd be happy too, but we'd probably have to control her because she's such a big Dallas fan.

I flew out to Baltimore last night after visiting with the Saints. I've never traveled this much in my life. I promise you this, you'll never see me go through the security line with bare feet. I'll always have socks. I cringe when I see other people do it. Who knows what's been on that floor. I'll keep my feet covered every time. I really don't like plane rides that much, but I am getting use to them now. Anyway, instead of passing out or watching a DVD on the flight, I started thinking a lot about my visit with the Falcons last week. I got a chance to meet Warrick Dunn, Michael Vick and Joe Horn in Atlanta. They were really nice guys and obviously they're great athletes. It's really cool meeting NFL players you watch on TV every weekend. They shared some stories with me and basically explained that football is about to become my profession. It didn't hit me at first, but it's finally starting to sink in. This is what you do now they said. You're a business man and football is your business. You have to get mentally prepared for that. It was really good advice and I appreciated it. They have all worked so hard to get to where they are and I don't ever want to lose sight of that. I'm a good athlete too, but I know there is a lot of hard work ahead of me to make the kind of impact they have made. That's what I want to do, to succeed as a professional athlete like they have. I'm going to take their advice and prepare and work really hard in order to do it. It really was an honor to meet those guys.

I'm sorry for lack of posts, but i've been on the road quite a bit lately. In the last week and a half, I've visited Cleveland, Atlanta, Tennessee, St. Louis, Minnesota and the New York Jets. It's been crazy. I leave again tonight to visit New Orleans on Monday. Visiting the teams has been great, but I've been having some bad experiences traveling. I had a seven hour layover last week and had my flights get switched a few times. For a guy who doesn't like to travel that much, it's been tough at times. I was coming home from Tennessee and we were supposed to stop in Dallas, but the weather was too bad for us to get in. They sent us to Austin instead and we sat on the runway for two hours. Luckily, I can sleep anywhere so I just shut it down while we were sitting there. I'm sure there were a lot of other people on the flight who weren't so lucky. The worst though was coming home from Atlanta. They dropped me off at 12:30, but my flight didn't leave until 7:30. I had to sit around for seven hours. On the bright side, it allowed me to charge my cell phone and watch a couple of old episodes of the Twilight Zone and the Office on my DVD player. I love science fiction and the Office is really funny. That helped me pass the time, but I won't lie, seven hours is a long time to be sitting around the airport. I hope it doesn't happen again, but the east coast is having some really bad weather and after I meet with the Saints, I'm scheduled to visit Baltimore and New England. I have some good stories from last week's visits. I'll try to recap each one with a quick post when I get a chance this week.

Individual workouts aren't just about football. Coaches want to find out what kind of person you are. Can you be taught? Will you fit in with other players? I try to show teams that I'm a good, hard working guy. Taking four classes this semester while training and traveling for workouts shows that. My dad is a stern person. When he sets his mind on something, he goes out and does it. I am the same way. I have that focus to get things done, but I also like to have fun and can live in the moment. That combination is important to teams. It shows I can handle the stress of being an NFL player. My mom is a very compassionate person who enjoys being around others. She's a people person and so am I. My grandmother is very generous. She puts everyone else before her. I try to do the same with teammates and make other people happy. I can see how the transition to the NFL would be tough for some guys. I think my upbringing will help me a lot.