Mr. Groovy Helps Offensive Line Keep the Beat
Drumming has long been the rhythm of Henderson’s life
Mike Brohard
His hands will automatically go to his legs. On the sidelines, they rest on his thigh pads and his fingers go to work. Tapping. Constant tapping, keeping beat with the music in his head.
The fingers keep time to whatever tune finds its way out of the recesses of his mind and into the forefront. More than likely, it’s something gospel. Probably something by Tye Trippett, one of his favorite artists.
Mr. Groovy has arrived.
“I think playing the drums and hearing music calms me before a rack or we go into a set into a game or practice,” Saveyon Henderson said. “Hearing music, I’m tapping my legs, it calms my heart down and I’m good to go.”
It’s not so much a nickname as it is a persona. Mr. Groovy is to Henderson what Spider-Man is to Peter Parker. There are few people within Colorado State’s football program who even know Mr. Groovy exists. Nobody actually refers to Henderson as such, save for him: It’s how he comes up in his own contact information.
The alter ego is who he’s always been, though he’s never been inclined to announce this part of his personality. At the start of college, there weren’t many outward signs, either. Traveling with a drum set isn’t exactly an option in a dorm room, even apartments.
But the signs are there. Most of them are subtle. Some have noticed the tapping in meeting rooms, or on an airplane. His casual dress comes with flair.
There is nothing subtle about his contact name.
“Now we just consider it to be more ironic,” center Jacob Gardner said.
Imagine the initial introduction. A year ago, Gardner wanted to make three incoming transfers feel welcome as soon as possible. He was the anchor of a line which had allowed 59 sacks, and a rebuild was taking place. Oliver Jervis was coming in for one season, but Drew Moss and Henderson had a couple of runs ahead of them. All of them had vast playing experience, and Gardner wanted them to be on the same page as quickly as possible.
He built a text thread for the offensive line room immediately and started inviting the newcomers. Then contact info started to pop up.
“It was pretty hilarious,” Moss said of the first time he saw Henderson’s info. “He’s got this cool-guy picture on his contact info also, so you get hit with the name but also hit with the Saveyon cool look with the picture.
“Saveyon cool-guy look is the baseball cap on, he’s doing a little cool smile, and his fit is fire. It’s just drippy.”
What Colorado State really needed from the three of them the Rams received. The new trio helped solidify an offensive front which went from dead-last in the nation in sacks allowed to ranking No. 11 for the fewest surrendered.
Henderson started all 12 games last year at tackle, and he’s expected to do the same this year. The interior, which now features Moss with Gardner, is not only set but stout.
Henderson sits right in front of offensive line coach Bill Best in the meeting room. Best never picked up on the finger rolls on the legs, or even the desk. As far as he’s concerned, Henderson has done a brilliant job disguising the drumming part of his life. The offensive lineman in him is perfectly on track.
“Everybody has to have their own self mark. It’s a topic sometimes in the meeting room,” Best said. “I don’t even know what groovy means. He is the opposite of what I think groovy is. He’s locked in and low key. He’s not a groovy person at all.”
Ah, but he is, really, since his youth.
Even to this day, music is always flowing through my brain, even if someone else can’t hear it. I like to call myself Mr. Groovy because I love to drum, and I love music.Saveyon Henderson
It started with a mini drum set. He was in the symphonic band from fourth through eighth grade, which is where he learned the base and snare. He dabbled in the triangle, even clarinets and horns, but just a little. He loves the way a violin sounds, so he’s played that, too.
But the drums hit different, filtered into his soul. The beat, the rhythm, the way they made the music flow.
“My entire life, I’ve been playing music. I’ve been playing the drums, it’s a God-given gift,” Henderson said. “My mom always tells the story that when I was a kid, every time music came on in the car I would move around in her belly. When I got a little older, I always tapped on things. I remember being in pre-school and teachers would ask if I had ADHD or anything, and mom would say, ‘No, he just likes to drum.’ Even to this day, music is always flowing through my brain, even if someone else can’t hear it. I like to call myself Mr. Groovy because I love to drum, and I love music.
“When I’m behind my drum set, I feel I’m in a different world. I feel like I can escape from any and everything and just zone into that. The way the drums make me feel, whether it’s the sound or the rhythm is different.”
Time back home as a college football player is rare. When the opportunity arises, one of the first stops he makes is to his drum set.
It’s tuxedo red and sparkly. It’s six pieces, complete with Sabian and Zildjian cymbals. He goes home and heads to it, settling in and just absorbing his surroundings. Then he’ll put on his headphones and start playing.
As he gets lost in the music. Time disappears. This is his element, his sanctuary.
“It is something that’s indescribable,” Henderson said. “It’s like drumming brings me to a different world, a different space and I love it.”
There isn’t a genre of music which is out of his reach. He finds something relatable and enjoyable in each realm. If he hears a new song, he estimates it will take him about three good listens before he can get behind his drum set and pick up the beat. He used to play by reading sheet music when he started, but now he simply goes by feel.
Without his drums on campus, he uses what he can. He said it stinks, but that’s what comes with the territory of being a college athlete. So, he uses his desk. His legs. His bed. If it looks like it could be a drum, it works. At his apartment, he always has his Vic Firth Extreme 5As in his hands, ready to play.
He has his favorites, Michael Carter Beauford and Calvin Rogers among them. And for those, like Moss, who have paid attention and grown more curious, Mr. Groovy fits.
“Basically, at this point we refuse to call him that,” Moss said. “I call him drummer boy at times. He always likes to do his pencil in the meetings, get his rhythm going. You could kind tell a little bit. It was kinda shocking, and he’s pretty good at it, too. The videos are impressive. That was life changing.”
As was hearing Moss refer to Henderson’s style as “drippy.” That part, other people have recognized.
When Henderson went to a Denver Nuggets’ playoff game this year, he happened to run into receiver Tory Horton. They exchanged pleasantries, then took the time to admire what the other was wearing.
Horton said style comes with the territory in the receiver room, not from an offensive lineman.
“He had some stuff on. He had a nice outfit, and he saw mine,” Horton said. “Saveyon is the best dressed in his position group, by far – by far. Out of the team, I give him top 10, because we have a lot of guys who dress well. I’m top two and I’m not two. He’s in my top seven for sure.”
Henderson loves to dress well, in a casual style, almost as much as he does drumming. That part of his persona is there for all to see. But drumming is something he doesn’t walk around talking about.
If you listen to him talk about playing, one can see it becomes a very introspective activity, to carry him to places and moods where he finds bliss.
“I don’t really tell everybody. Drumming has always been something where it’s not a bragging right, it’s something I’m in love with doing,” he explained. “When music comes on, that’s the first thing that clicks. Let’s see how it sounds if it gets my mind going. It’s probably shocking unless they see me tapping all day.”
There is a cadence to playing the offensive line, and good units become connected. Garder is curious if the drumming background helps Henderson in some small way, be it reading the tempo of runs or pulling assignments.
He’s not really sure, but after initially shaking his head about the idea of Mr. Groovy, he’s a fan.
“You know what? I kinda like it. He’s got his own little identity when he goes out there,” Gardner said. “You have to have a certain perception of yourself when you play O-line. It’s like corner. You’re going to fail, but being able to be rooted and this is who I am, it’s a lot easier to bounce back from failure. If it works for him, I love it for him. I want him to find something where he’s able to get past. If that’s something he can root himself in, I say go for it.”
Which Henderson has embraced. Mr. Groovy is always lurking, ready to take root at any moment. All it requires is a song in his head and a place for his fingers to relay the beat.
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