Antiwan Henning Jr. (born September 9, 2001) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

and

Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and one of two private universities in the conference, the other ...

Early life

Henning attended

Lincoln-Way East High School Lincoln-Way East High School or LWE, is a four-year public high school located approximately three miles south of Interstate 80 near the intersection of Colorado Avenue, U.S. Route 45 ( La Grange Road) and U.S. Route 30 (Lincoln Highway) in Fran ...

Frankfort, Illinois Frankfort is a village in Will County and Cook County in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a southern suburb of Chicago, and is approximately 28 miles (45 km) south of the city. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,296. Frankfo ...

. During the 2019 season, he tallied 835 receiving yards and 648 rushing yards, scored 29 touchdowns, and was selected as the Gatorade Player of the Year in Illinois. 247Sports rated him as the No. 1 prospect in Illinois.

College career

Michigan

Henning committed to Michigan and was the school's highest-ranked recruit in the 2020 class. He debuted for Michigan during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, appearing in six games. As a sophomore in 2021, he appeared in all 14 games for Michigan, playing as a return specialist and wide receiver. Against Western Michigan on September 4, he scored his first collegiate touchdown, gaining 74 yards on a reverse. Against Maryland on November 20, he took a lateral from Michael Barrett and returned it 81 yards for a touchdown. Against Ohio State on November 27, he tallied 107 all-purpose yards and scored Michigan's first touchdown on a jet sweep. For the season, he averaged 9.4 yards on 29 punt returns. He was also named to the 2021 Academic All-Big Ten team. In the spring of 2022, Michigan coach

Jim Harbaugh James Joseph Harbaugh ( ; born December 23, 1963) is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach at ...

said they planned to use Henning in a

Deebo Samuel Tyshun Raequan "Deebo" Samuel Sr. (born January 15, 1996) is an American professional football wide receiver for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks and w ...

-esque role. In July 2022,

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

rated Henning as one of its 31 breakout candidates for 2022. On September 17, Henning returned a punt 61 yards for a touchdown against UConn. It was Michigan's first punt return for touchdown since 2019. Having returned a kickoff for a touchdown in 2021, he became the fourth Michigan player (joining

Steve Breaston Steven William Breaston (born August 20, 1983) is an American former professional football wide receiver. He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines and was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL draft. ...

Desmond Howard Desmond Kevin Howard (born May 15, 1970) is an American former professional football wide receiver and return specialist who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines, wi ...

, and Dave Raimey) to return both a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown. During the 2022 regular season, Henning returned 25 punts for 184 yards, an average of 7.36 yard per return. He also returned eight kickoffs for 163 yards, an average of 20.38 yards per return.

Northwestern

On April 24, 2023 Henning announced that he entered the

NCAA transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool created to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member institutions. It is i ...

, eventually transferring to Northwestern for his final two seasons.

Professional career

On May 9, 2025, Henning signed with the

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

after going unselected in the

2025 NFL draft The 2025 NFL draft was the 90th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Lambeau Field and its adjacent Titletown District in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 24–26, 2025 ...

References

External links

Miami Dolphins bio

Michigan Wolverines bio

Northwestern Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henning, A. J. 2001 births Living people Players of American football from Will County, Illinois People from Frankfort, Illinois American football wide receivers Michigan Wolverines football players Northwestern Wildcats football players Miami Dolphins players