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Oklahoma football: Ranking the top-5 Sooner DBs of modern era

By Chip Rouse

1 Jan 2001: Roy Williams #38 of the Oklahoma Sooners jumps to catch the ball as teammate J.T. Thatcher #15 and Robert Morgan #87 of the Florida State Seminoles are next to him during the Orange Bowl Game at the Pro Players Stadium in Miami, Florida. The Sooners defeated the Seminoles 13-2.Mandatory Credit: Eliot J. Schechter /Allsport
1 Jan 2001: Roy Williams #38 of the Oklahoma Sooners jumps to catch the ball as teammate J.T. Thatcher #15 and Robert Morgan #87 of the Florida State Seminoles are next to him during the Orange Bowl Game at the Pro Players Stadium in Miami, Florida. The Sooners defeated the Seminoles 13-2.Mandatory Credit: Eliot J. Schechter /Allsport /
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The Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, home of the Oklahoma Sooners. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
The Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, home of the Oklahoma Sooners. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /

No. 1 — CB Zac Henderson (1974-1977)

Zac Henderson is one of the most underrated players who played on the great Oklahoma teams under Barry Switzer. He played cornerback on not one, but two Oklahoma national championship teams (1974 and 1975).

Henderson was part of a defense that held opponents to just 10.7 points a game in the back-to-back national championship seasons. The Sooners were 22-1 in those two seasons.

A four-year starter for Oklahoma, Henderson was a two-time All-American and three-time All-Big Eight defensive back. He was OU’s first true freshman to start a game after the NCAA reinstated freshman eligibility in 1972.

In 1977, he was named Defensive Back of the Year by the New York Athletic Club.

As a freshman, Henderson started in the same defensive backfield with Randy Hughes (No. 3 in our ranking of the best five Oklahoma defensive backs in the modern era). That 1974 Sooner defensive unit featured four All-Americans (DT Lee Roy Selmon. LBs Dewey Selmon and Rod Shoate and Hughes) and is considered by many to be one of the greatest defenses in college football history.

Henderson still holds the Oklahoma record for most tackles by a defensive back (299) and is second in career interceptions (15).

"“Zac had good speed. That’s why he could play,” Switzer told Sports Illustrated after Henderson died in April this year from what was believed to be complications from sleep apnea. “He was smart, he was big and he was fast.”"

Henderson was undrafted. He played four season in the Canadian Football League and one season (1980) with the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL.

He was 64 years old when he died.

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