ST. PETERSBURG - It's been a long journey for Gibbs senior La'Darius Henry.

One filled with a lot of highs and a few lows.

"Everything happens for a reason," said Henry.

Born and raised in the small South Georgia town of Adel, La'Darius started playing football when he was 6 years old.

"My grandma told me I needed to get out of the house so I started playing football and I just started loving it."

Heading into his freshman year, La'Darius thought he was talented enought to play high school football. But his coach at the time thought otherwise.

"One day I went to one of the practices and the coach told me he thought I wasn't good enought to be on the team," said Henry. "I was a little down at first. I wasn't sure if this sport really was for me or not, so I decided to move to Florida with my Mom and start all over."

La'Darius' decision to move ended up being the right one. He made the Gibbs varsity team as a freshman and by his sophomore year was rated a three-star prospect and getting recruited by Division I schools. At one point, he held about 30 scholarship offers from Power 5 schools like Florida, Oregon, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. 

La'Darius orginially committed to USF in 2017. "That was my first college visit and I loved it. Me and Shaun King, him being a Gibbs guy, we had a great relationship." 

But a few months later, he decided to decommitt and re-open his recruitment. "Bigger schools started coming after me so I wanted to take my time and see what I had on the table," Henry said.

One of those bigger schools was West Virginia. "It was country. Morgantown is country which I liked. Coach [Marquel] Blackwell who recruited me is from St. Petersburg and Dana Holgerson is a really cool coach."

La'Darius committed to the Mountaineers in July of 2018. But his commitment didn't last long. This time, it wasn't his choice.

"First day of practice, I went to step and stepped in a hole and twisted my knee." La'Darius ending up tearing the ACL in his right knee, which cost him his senior season as well as many of his offers, including West Virginia. "I was kind of down, I didn't expect them to pull my offer even if I was injured or not. I thought I was going to be a part of the team." 

"I felt bad man cause I know he was one of the players that was highly recruited," Gibbs head coach Jay Trotter said. "Ultimately it's a blessing in a disguise cause now he'll know who's really for him."

Despite losing offers from bigger schools, La'Darius says there are still a few Division I programs recruiting him that will allow him to redshirt his freshman season as he rehabs his knee. "It means a lot to me cause it shows me that they care about me as a person and a player."

"He's got what it takes to recover," Trotter said. "He wants to be great. That makes a world of a difference. Most kids do it just to do it but he wants to be great."