Ben Scott was responsible for LaDarius Henderson’s introduction to fruity foods and drinks as well as Hawaiian music.

And it was Henderson who got his fellow Arizona State offensive lineman to try Kool Aid pickles for the first time.

The two have been friends since the day they showed up in Tempe a year and a half ago. Now the native Texan and the Hawaiian are battling for the same starting position up front.

Despite the different backgrounds, the two have a lot in common, most notably a laid-back, relaxed temperament.

“It’s really weird because we’re from two completely different places but we have a lot in common,” Henderson said. “We have always gotten along since the day we met. We just clicked right away.”

Both arrived in June of 2019, Henderson after playing for only two years at Waxahachie High School, 30 miles South of Dallas.  

Scott had excelled at St Louis School in Honolulu, a boys-only Catholic school with an impressive football program that produced NFL quarterbacks Marcus Mariota and Tua Tagovailoa.

Players are typically assigned roommates who play the same position, thus their pairing for the summer when the team stated conditioning work. They were moved into separate dorms based on their majors in the fall but remained roommates when the Sun Devils were on the road.

Now as second-year students they’re sharing an off-campus apartment where fellow lineman Dohnovan West, who will be the starter at left guard, is also a frequent visitor.

Like most athletes their age, they’re big on Madden and NBA video games but they talk about their goals.

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“We have a lot in common even though we come from two different worlds,” Scott said. “We have the same goals. We both want to play at the next level and we talk about that and what we need to do to get there.”

When it comes to their professional rooting interest, the two differ. Being from Texas, Henderson naturally was a Cowboys fan. But that has changed since the Cowboys fired Jon Kitna as quarterbacks coach after last season.

Kitna was Henderson’s high school football coach so there is a loyalty there, thus his rooting interest has shifted a bit to Russell Wilson and the Seahawks.

Scott is a Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City Chiefs fan. He says that comes from when he started playing Madden as a 7-year-old and his team was the Chiefs, who, as it happens, were then coached by Herm Edwards, now his coach.

Scott, now 19, redshirted last year which is the norm for a true freshman at that position. Henderson was expected to do that as well but when the Sun Devils were suddenly without two linemen they expected to have, he was thrust into the starting lineup.

ASU offensive line coach Dave Christensen said on several occasions in his 30 years he started just one true freshman and suddenly he was asking that of two of them — Henderson and West, who were playing in front of a true freshman quarterback in Jayden Daniels.

Henderson made his debut at left tackle in the third game of the season against Michigan State. Making it all the more noteworthy was that he only played two years of high school football. And he was young at that, playing an entire rookie year of college football before he turned 18 in December.

“Most people do redshirt. I didn’t rule out playing so I practiced like I was going to play but at the same time I didn’t expect it either,” said Henderson, who has bulked up from 285 pounds to 305.

The offensive line has been bolstered this season by graduate transfers Kellen Diesch (from Texas A&M) and Henry Hattis (from Stanford), who are expected to start at left tackle and right guard respectively.

Scott spent the seven spring practices ASU did have working at center but that spot ended up going to sixth-year senior Cade Cote which resulted in Scott moving over to right tackle where he is now competing with his friend for the starting nod.

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“We thought there was a good chance we were both going to be starting and that would have been pretty exciting but it hasn’t turned out that way,” Scott said. “We’re just trying to make each other better. We push each other every day. We both want what is best for the team and that’s for us both to keep working and bringing out he best in each other.”

Scott has been getting reps with the first team so he looks like the front-runner at the position, although no on has been officially informed as to who the starter will be yet.

Christensen acknowledges that the two aren’t just battling for playing time against each other, they’re battling against themselves to improve. Just because they’re both at right tackle now, doesn’t mean they can’t get move to another spot on the line if they beat somebody else out.

“You can see how close they are and them competing for a spot hasn’t affected that but it’s really more about each of them getting better,” the veteran coach said. “They’re both competitive and they want to play but the competition is more against themselves than against each other.” 

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602 444-4783.  Follow her on Twitter @MGardnerSports.

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