Daiyan Henley (born November 18, 1999) 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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

for the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC W ...

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

Nevada Wolf Pack The Nevada Wolf Pack are the athletic teams that represent the University of Nevada, Reno. They are part of NCAA's Division I's Mountain West Conference. It was founded on October 24, 1896 with football as the Sagebrushers in Reno, Nevada. H ...

and

Washington State Cougars The Washington State Cougars (known informally as the Cougs) are the sport, athletic teams that represent Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, WSU is a member of the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division I. The athletic pr ...

Early life

Henley was born on November 18, 1999, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He is the son of Eugene (Big U) Henley Jr. Alleged leader of the Rolling 60's Neighborhood crips currently on trial for Murder of sons best friend and former teammate Rayshawn Williams . Big U entered a not guilty plea https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/eugene-big-u-henley-jr-murder-crenshaw-high-school-rayshawn-williams/3660636/ He later attended

Crenshaw High School Crenshaw High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located on 11th Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The school first opened in 1968 and currently enrolls arou ...

. He is the cousin of former NFL Los Angeles Rams player Darryl Henley.

College career

Henley began his college career at

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, where he played

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 his first two seasons. Henley caught 17 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns before being moved to defense before the start of his junior season. He suffered a season-ending injury and used a medical redshirt on the year. Henley made 49 tackles as a redshirt junior. In 2021, he made 103 tackles with three tackles for loss and four interceptions and was named second team All-

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

. Following the end of the season, Henley 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 ...

. Henley ultimately transferred to the

for his final season of NCAA eligibility over offers from USC, Kansas State, and Washington.

Professional career

Henley was selected by the

in the third round, 85th overall, of the

2023 NFL draft The 2023 NFL draft was the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2023 NFL season, 2023 season. The NFL draft, draft was held outside of Kansas City Union Station, Union Station i ...

. As a rookie, he appeared in 15 games and made 16 total tackles (nine solo).

References

External links

Los Angeles Chargers bioWashington State Cougars bioNevada Wolf Pack bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henley, Daiyan 1999 births American football linebackers American football wide receivers Crenshaw High School alumni Living people Los Angeles Chargers players Nevada Wolf Pack football players Players of American football from Los Angeles Washington State Cougars football players