Opportunity called. And then it came with a question for New Mexico running back Andrew Henry. A few, actually.

The essence of those questions: Are you sure you want to do this?

The chance to be a late addition to the East-West Shrine Bowl came with some risks. He’d be joining a team he’d never played with, days after they’d already been practicing together. He’d have to learn a playbook in under 48 hours that he had never seen before.

Henry had been waiting for a NFL showcase. But this one, fraught with both risk and reward, deserved a moment of re-consideration — and nothing more, in Henry’s mind.

“Man, I’ve been running inside zone and outside zone since I was six-years-old,” Henry said. “I don’t think doing it another time will be different. So I went in there [to the Shrine Bowl] 100% confident of everything I’ve been doing.

“Everything in life has led me to that moment.”

Henry made the most of his opportunity, too. Despite the risks of being a late addition to the Shrine Bowl, Henry impressed. He had 11 carries for 68 yards at AT&T Stadium, including a 36-yard run. That marked the longest offensive play from scrimmage from any player in the Shrine Bowl.

After the game, interest in Henry sparked. He talked with multiple teams. The Dallas-area native and Allen High School alum was even invited to the local pro day for the Dallas Cowboys, where he’ll workout on Friday.

Once again, Henry doesn’t hesitate about his comfort with the opportunity. He feels that you don’t need to get prepared if you’re prepared. He believes that everything he’s gone through in life — all the hurdles and all the chances ripped away from him — has led him to the precipice of playing professional football.

“It feels like I live in a movie or a story,” Henry said of his Shrine Bowl experience. “It felt like the next chapter in the book.”

Like any good story, Henry’s football life has had its twists and turns; it’s ups and downs; it’s plot points that could’ve sent his life in many directions, and certainly not to the place where he’s at now.

The first came during his senior year in high school. Henry spent his junior season at the Episcopal School of Dallas. He finished with over 1,300 all-purpose yards. He earned recruiting interest and multiple offers. That summer, the three-star recruit committed to Texas State.

There was intrigue from larger college coaches, however, about what Henry could do in his senior season. That was especially true after he transferred to Allen, a Texas high school football powerhouse in name, size, and competition level. If Henry could succeed at Allen, he likely could succeed anywhere.

“It was like every Texas high school dream you could ever live … it felt like everything was in my hand,” Henry said. “It felt like a typical Friday Night Lights story, and I was living it. I imagined being a five-star [recruit] and it was everything I could want.”

That was until everything he ever wanted was ripped away from his hands.

Henry’s first game started off well. Henry scored two touchdowns on his first four carries of the season. He was breaking tackles against Mesquite Horn High School, looking like the running back he always believed he could be. Then, on his fifth touch of the game, Henry went down with a non-contact injury. They hoped for the best, but Henry was dealt the worst: a torn ACL ended his senior season barely after it began.

Bigger offers, he believed, were on the way. Now, they were out.

“I cried, and I cried and cried,” Henry recalled.

Henry eventually decommitted from Texas State and ended up at Fort Scott Community College. It’s located nearly 100 miles south of Kansas City. In 2021, during the middle of the season, the football program there announced it was terminating its program due to a “lack of resources,” among other things.

The experience wasn’t the football dream Henry envisioned, but he made the most of it. He got healthy and ended up becoming a top-10 junior college running back recruit in the country, according to 247Sports. In 2020, he transferred to Trinity Valley Community College, but the fall season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Henry’s football journey continued to the University of Louisiana-Monroe, where he ran for over 800 yards and totaled 10 touchdowns in two seasons. He transferred to New Mexico in 2023 and rushed for 350 yards and three touchdowns on 52 carries.

He entered 2024 with aspirations to have a big final season in college football. He then found out that wouldn’t be possible.

Henry was ruled ineligible for his final season due to a “tracer” issue. After different junior college and college stops along the way, information told to Henry proved to be inaccurate. He was out of eligibility and he didn’t even know it. He appealed to the NCAA and tried to get both a redshirt and an extra year from a medical redshirt, but both appeals were denied.

His college career, just like his high school career, ended suddenly and unexpectedly. It marked another reminder of a cruel lesson he learned and lived before.

“Everything in my life happens for a reason,” Henry said.

“For me, I know how it feels to think the world is ending, but I kept going and I was able to get to where I’m at now.”

Henry looked at the positive of the situation. Without any eligibility, he turned his attention toward getting ready for the 2025 NFL Draft. He worked his “tail off,” he said. He ate right. He embraced a year of health, rather than he rigors of playing running back at the Division I level.

At New Mexico’s Pro Day, he looked the part. He ran a 4.57 40-yard dash and had a 10-yard split of 1.51. That split would’ve tied for second at the NFL Combine. He also bench pressed 22 times, which would’ve also been second best among running backs at the combine.

Henry’s measurables tell the tale of a running back who’s quicker than fast; someone with enough strength and balance to break through tackles. His performance at the Shrine Bowl showed that, too.

“A lot of guys talk about, ‘What if I had an opportunity?’ and a lot of guys would be sitting at home saying, ‘If I had the ball, I would do this,’ but I was one of those guys who really had the opportunity to put their money where their mouth was,” Henry said. “For me, it was just take the opportunity and run.

“I was just trying to go out there and be the best me I could be and let the rest play out.”

That mentality has carried over into the rest of his draft experience. Henry said he’s excited to workout for the Cowboys on Friday. He knows the NFL Draft is uncertain, and considering his path to get here, he doesn’t mind where he gets picked or if he gets picked at all. He just wants opportunity to call.

“After you score a couple touchdowns,” Henry said, “they don’t care what pick you were.”

Henry also has a level of appreciation for being in this position at all. His football journey has been filled with anguish. It’s been about opportunities given, and subsequently taken. The pain hasn’t changed, but his ability to take these moments in stride have calloused him over time.

“Those thoughts mentally tore into me for a long time,” Henry said of his high school injury and his circuitous college journey. “There were times where I wanted to forget it, but I just couldn’t, even if I wanted to. There were a lot of nights I stayed up thinking about it. Even now, when I don’t want to wake up early, there’s a lot of times where [my journey] goes through my mind and gets me up, and it just keeps driving me when I want to quit. [I tell myself] You were 17 and you keep going. You’re way stronger, keep going. Not even keep going for yourself now, but keep going for all the days you kept going back then. See how many days you kept going? Why quit now. You might as well keep going and doing your thing. That’s where I’m at right now.”

Right in the middle of a football story he hopes is still being written.