Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry will be back home in Yulee, Florida, on Thursday night for the retirement of his high school number.

Yulee High School will retire Henry’s No. 2 at its spring football game against Andrew Jackson High School from Jacksonville.

While playing for the Hornets from 2009 through 2012, Henry set the national high school record for rushing yards in a career with 12,144, including 4,265 in his 13-game senior season.

Henry broke the career record of 11,232 rushing yards that had been held since 1953 by Ken Hall of Sugar Land, Texas.

“I gained a lot of yards in high school,” Henry said during a recent appearance on “The Dave Dameshek Football Program.” "High school was just fun. I loved playing in my hometown in front of everybody from back home. A lot of memories from high school, and I still miss those days. …

"There ain't nothing like those Friday night lights. If you ever played high school football, there ain't nothing like it, playing in your hometown."

After high school, Henry moved on to a record-breaking career at Alabama. For the Crimson Tide’s 2015 CFP national-championship team, Henry set SEC single-season records with 2,219 rushing yards and rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns with 28 as he won the Heisman Trophy.

During a recent appearance on FOX Sports Radio, Henry recounted when Alabama coach Nick Saban came to Yulee to recruit him for the Tide.

“He actually came to my high school,” Henry said. "I thought that was pretty cool. We sat down and talked. I just liked how real he was with me. He was like, ‘Everybody’s going to get an opportunity.’ Don’t matter if you’re a five-star or if you have no stars, everybody’s going to get an opportunity to play and compete. That’s how he runs it at Alabama and at the program. It’s a process. You’re going to develop through the program, and they teach you a lot about life. The academic program is run very well. Everything’s very disciplined. Everything’s very strict.

"He's going to get the best out of you on both sides, so when you leave there, you're prepared for everything -- football, life. He taught me a lot."

Preparing for his fourth NFL season with the Titans, Henry broke out in the final month of the 2018 season on his way to 1,059 rushing yards, the second-most in the AFC last year.

In Tennessee's four-game winning streak to open December, Henry ran for 532 yards and eight touchdowns on 81 carries.

In a 30-9 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Dec. 6, Henry ran for 238 yards and four touchdowns on 17 carries, including the second 99-yard run from scrimmage in league history. He became the first player in the NFL’s Super Bowl era to run for at least 200 yards and four touchdowns on 20 or fewer carries.

Henry said he and the Titans' offensive line started to hit their stride in Tennessee's new outside zone running scheme as the 2018 season progressed.

“We definitely built more chemistry down the stretch,” Henry told musiccitymiracles.com. "Game after game, we were all getting better. I thought we got better as a unit every single week. We had to build that chemistry. … It was a new scheme, and we were learning it together. We’re a unit out there. It was a new offense for everybody. We got better and better as the season went on.

"We want to carry that momentum into this off-season and continue to improve as a team."

Henry also wants to turn his December performance into an every-month showing.

“In the NFL, you have to be consistent and be consistent at a high level to keep playing,” Henry said. “You always hear about the great ones, the guys that played my position and played other positions, they did it at a high level for a lot of years. That’s just my main focus.”

Henry and the Titans' offensive linemen will be working with another new offensive coordinator this season. After one season with Tennessee, Matt LaFleur moved on to become the head coach of the Green Bay Packers.

While Arthur Smith is the new offensive coordinator, he isn't new to the Titans. Smith has been with Tennessee since 2011 and coached the Titans' tight ends for the previous three seasons.

“I’m super-excited to have coach Smith as our offensive coordinator,” Henry said. “I’ve been on the team going on four years now, and I think he’s going to be a great offensive coordinator for us. I know what his mindset is like. I have a great understanding of what he expects from us. He has an attacking mentality, and he wants us to be physical.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.