Before there was Bryce Underwood, the Belleville star quarterback and No. 1 overall recruit, who signed Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period, there was local football-baseball phenom Drew Henson from Brighton who also stayed home and played for the Wolverines.

Henson, widely considered the nation’s top quarterback and recruit, also had a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract with the New York Yankees who drafted him in 1998, the same year he became a Michigan freshman quarterback. Underwood was committed to LSU since January, but late last month flipped to Michigan and is promised a multi-million dollar deal funded in large part by donors and the Champions Circle collective.

If there’s anyone who can understand the pressure of being a highly rated recruit playing for his hometown team, it’s Henson. He moved back to Michigan, where his family is from, in ninth grade. He had always been a Michigan fan. Henson finished second all-time in Michigan high school passing yards (5,662) and touchdown passes (52). He also had the state’s record in touchdowns passes for a single-season (26 in 1997) and a single-game (six). He averaged 45.7 yards-per-punt in his career and was an All-American punter as a senior.

“Once I really started establishing roots, I was feeling like I’m a Michigan guy,” Henson told The Detroit News. “This is where I’m from. This is where I live. I really like Florida State as a second choice, or another option in Tennessee, as well, having quarterbacks that have played both sports and have those options that were throwing the ball a lot.

“But when it came down to it, similar to what Underwood’s doing right now is, every year of my high school career, things were going so well, and there was this legend that was being developed. I was setting records and doing things where you have such a following and so many people are invested your career. At a young age, like, if you go somewhere else or you leave, all those people that support you and even know every detail about your story, you lose some of that if you leave.”Henson said former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler sat down with him to discuss why he would play for the then-head coach Lloyd Carr and the Wolverines.

“Bo brought me into his office and said, ‘I know you have a lot of options, baseball and this and that, but you have to decide how badly do you want to be the Michigan quarterback,’” Henson said. “That was really simple, and it was kind of a challenge where, hey, everyone’s telling you how great you are, but how badly do you want this opportunity to be the guy here?

“That was the final piece that cleared it up for me. I’m a Michigan kid, my family’s from here, I’ve been a fan, I have all these opportunities of people that have watched me grow. I’m destined. It was just, yeah, I have to be the Michigan QB.”

Henson, 44, now has Edgewater Pro Sports Financial company, a financial services provider with a wide range of clients in sports. He has a unique perspective on what it’s like to be the hometown star athlete playing at Michigan while also juggling finances.

He knows all about fan expectations and how Underwood will have to balance those as well as his personal expectations.

“There’ll be so many off-the-field opportunities,” Henson said of Underwood. “You get to be the most famous person in the state while you’re there, and everyone’s supporting you, but you have to manage the expectations. This is a time where fans are the most excited, as they should be, but at the same time, it’s a huge step up in competition and X’s and O’s and your knowledge of the game. He’s got high expectations for himself, but you also have to realize it is still a process. The development comes on a day-to-day basis, trying to get a little better each day, preparing for the opportunity to get on that field. And then, once you get on that field, perform there.

“But as much hype as there is, (UM receivers coach) Soup (Erik) Campbell used to tell me when I was a freshman, ‘Just don’t believe the hype. Don’t buy into the hype.’ Meaning, leave that for everyone else out there. Just go back and focus on your work, focus on the details. Really compartmentalize your thoughts, because if you start taking on all those other things, in your brain, it can be chaotic and seem overwhelming. You understand that all that stuff is great, but, it’s the day-to-day work and those details and that little bit of improvement each day that helps get you where you want to be at the end of the day.”

Athletes always have goals, and the great ones understand how important it is to buy into the, don’t-believe-the-hype mantra. Underwood is seen as Michigan’s future and a way to bring back the quarterback position after a season of struggles.

“I felt the expectations all the time, I knew what the expectations were, and fortunately for me, they were the exact same expectations I had for myself, so it didn’t feel overwhelming, it was just a lot,” Henson said. “Yeah, I knew, with all the things surrounding me, getting to town and the Yankees and the high-school career, that, yeah, if I went out and played badly, that wasn’t going to be acceptable.

“My goal was to, exceed anything that I had hoped for as a player. I knew if I could get the best out of myself and what I thought I was as an athlete, then that would be good enough. You know what’s at stake. You sign up to play Ohio State, you sign up to win Big Ten championships and that’s what every Michigan quarterback is really measured on are those two things, a Big Ten title and beating Ohio State. So ever since ninth, 10th grade, and I got to see those games in person, I was visualizing the day that I’d be on the field. It ended up being five years later, but I played that game in my in my mind dozens of times.”

As someone who assists others with finances, Henson understands this new layer of responsibility that college athletes have since NIL and, more than likely, revenue sharing that is expected to kick in next year. Henson understood it back then when he arrived at Michigan, because he had the Yankees contract and learned quickly the sooner you compartmentalize football and school and business, the better off you are as an athlete.

“So that when it’s time for football, it’s time for football,” Henson said. “Really try not to let one affect the other, because, yeah, you’re an instant millionaire, but you’re also a freshman that’s trying to get used to finding your dorm and your classes.”

What has been reported as the financial deal for Underwood is dizzying, but Henson said the focus can’t be on that.

“The money that’s coming in now in college is absolutely fantastic, and it’s life-changing, but it shouldn’t cloud the long-term goal of becoming an NFL quarterback and All-Pro and an all-time great,” said Henson, who appeared in nine NFL games over two seasons, including two with the Detroit Lions in 2008. “I’m sure those are probably goals he has for himself. Even though you’ve had major success early on and financial security early, that same drive that got you to that point, has to continue, if not even more.

“First things first, learning the offensive system, learning pass protections, run-blocking schemes, opposing defenses, coverages, personnel packages. College teams do so much more than high school programs, and that was a big adjustment for me and any guy going to school is starting to understand that next level of X’s and O’s and scheme. The sooner you can understand those parts of the game going on, it lets you play faster and develop faster and be more confident as you get back there and you’re making the reads and decisions.”

Henson said choosing to stay close to home is a positive for that very reason — you’re close to home. There are all the expectations on the star quarterback in Ann Arbor.

“But you come home and take a deep breath,” he said. “You would go up to Brighton on Sundays when we’d have time do laundry and see the family, and you re-live when life wasn’t as complicated, like six months before that, a point where life was a little simpler. You can rest up and then go back to Ann Arbor, and work on the grind.”