Ingram defends himself against hilarious picture with Derrick Henry originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
It’s no secret just how big of a human being Derrick Henry is, and yet Ravens running back Mark Ingram is reminded constantly of the size difference between the two former Alabama Heisman winners.
The two powerful running backs reminisced over their decorated Crimson Tide careers, including the finale of Henry’s college football career in the 2015-2016 championship victory over Clemson.
“That’s the game with the infamous picture. I was the guest captain,” Ingram recalled on The Players’ Tribune podcast “Truss Levelz” with former Saints teammate Cameron Jordan.
It’s a gloriously hilarious photo that shows the stark difference of stature and build between the two running backs. To be fair to Ingram, though, a specimen like Henry makes everyone feel small when standing next to them.
“Let me defend myself first. The man’s already 6-4, he’s already got his helmet on and shoulder pads,” Ingram said. “Then the cameraman, they set me up. I’m further away from the camera, I’m already only 5-10. I just had rotator cuff surgery so luckily I took my sling off because they would’ve said he was beating me up or something.”
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Henry ended up with three touchdowns and 158 yards on 36 carries in Alabama’s 45-40 thrilling victory over Deshaun Watson’s Clemson. Memes surfaced all over social media of the iconic picture, and Ingram found out pretty quickly it was going to blow up.
“I got back to the sideline, Landon Collins showed me the phone and was like, ‘Man they got you, bro,'” Ingram said.
“Every time I think it’s over with, it comes right back up,” Henry said.
The hilarious photo will likely continue to get resurfaced every time Ingram and Henry face each other in the NFL for the foreseeable future. The most recent encounter, of course, Ingram again got the short end of the stick as his Ravens lost handily to Henry’s Titans — thanks in large part to Henry’s 30 carries for 195 yards.
Rewind to Henry’s first couple of seasons under Nick Saban at Alabama, though, and the Titans star was trying to be more like Ingram and fellow Alabama RB Trent Richardson. As a self-proclaimed perfectionist, Henry strived to be just like the star rushers who came before him. After two years of not making the impact he wanted, Henry took to the weight room to mold himself into the man he is today and ended up breaking many of the records Ingram set during his Heisman campaign back in 2009.
At the end of the day, as long as Henry continues to terrorize opposing defenses like he did in Week 6 against the Texans with a couple touchdowns, 212 yards on 22 carries, then he’ll always be seen as the guy looking down at others — no matter the camera angle.