{"id":563575,"date":"2026-03-27T04:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/563575\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T04:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:22:12","slug":"hyper-athletic-queens-offensive-tackle-niklas-henning-poised-to-steal-the-show-at-cfl-combine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/563575\/","title":{"rendered":"Hyper-athletic Queen’s offensive tackle Niklas Henning poised to steal the show at CFL Combine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy: James Paddle-Grant\/Queen\u2019s Athletics<\/p>\n

If this is your first time reading Niklas Henning\u2019s name, you\u2019d better get used to it. It won\u2019t be the last time you see it in print over the coming days and weeks.<\/p>\n

Queen\u2019s University\u2019s hyper-athletic offensive tackle enters the CFL Combine this weekend in Edmonton with a quiet buzz around what he could accomplish. Fans may not yet be familiar with his game, but scouts have him pegged as the prospect most likely to blow up the annual underwear Olympics.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is to be the best-testing offensive lineman in each category,\u201d Henning told 3DownNation earlier this offseason. \u201cI think it\u2019s a very realistic possibility. I know I\u2019m gonna run fast, I\u2019ll jump high, I\u2019ll jump far. I\u2019m excited myself to see where I end up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ll have the 40 on lock. My goal would be sub-4.9. I\u2019m expecting low 4.9s.\u201d<\/p>\n

While 4.9 seconds on the stopwatch might not seem like much compared to some of the blazing fast times recorded by receivers and defensive backs, it is a lofty goal for a player who stands at nearly six-foot-six and 290 pounds. It has been a decade since the last offensive lineman, York\u2019s Jamal Campbell, cracked the five-second barrier at the CFL Combine and dipping below 4.9 would be virtually unprecedented. It is a feat that only 18 players have managed at the NFL Combine, among them all-time greats like Trent Williams.<\/p>\n

Of course, Henning will still have to back up his predictions with actual results, but the sense is that his confidence isn\u2019t misplaced. The Milton, Ont., native doesn\u2019t move like your typical offensive lineman, perhaps because he hasn\u2019t been one for long.<\/p>\n

It was only two years ago that Henning was auditioning for CFL teams at the East-West Bowl as a tight end, and a damn good one at that. The then-255-pounder was named a second-team All-Canadian for his performance during the 2023 season, catching seven passes for 104 yards and a touchdown.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo courtesy: James Paddle-Grant\/Queen\u2019s Athletics<\/p>\n

However, scouts felt his size, length, and blocking ability would be better suited to wearing an ineligible number, and they weren\u2019t shy about saying so. After discussions with the Gaels\u2019 coaching staff, who had long joked that this might be a possibility, he embraced a move to right tackle.<\/p>\n

In order to make the transition feasible, Henning had to put on more than 30 pounds over the course of one summer \u2014 a near Herculean feat on a student\u2019s budget. Rather than eat those calories, he chose to drink them, whipping up a bizarre nightly concoction that soon had him playing in a different weight class.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy secret was every night I\u2019d make a smoothie, and it was really whatever I could get my hands on,\u201d he explained. \u201cMore often than not, you\u2019d have ice cream, milk, protein powder, olive oil, peanut butter, Nutella, maybe a big scoop of butter if I felt like it. Really, anything kind of fattening that I could get my hands on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apparently, if you throw enough ingredients in a blender, anything labelled \u201cextra virgin\u201d merely fades into the background.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was delicious. It\u2019s silky smooth,\u201d Henning raved. \u201cOh man, it\u2019s good. You\u2019ve got to try it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the supposedly tasty shortcut, putting on and maintaining weight continues to be the most challenging part of Henning\u2019s new position. At times, he\u2019s gotten up to 310 pounds \u2014 a fair landmark for where CFL teams will expect him to be at the next level \u2014 but the grind of the season has also seen him drop as low as 280 pounds. That is sure to be a point of emphasis for any organization looking to bring him in.<\/p>\n

The other demands of offensive tackle came slightly easier. While his fundamentals left a lot to be desired in 2024, the results were promising for the exact reasons why he is now a coveted pro prospect.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very raw, not at all refined technique-wise, but I always had good feet. I was quick and athletic and could stay in front of guys. While it wasn\u2019t necessarily pretty, I was always able to get the job done,\u201d Henning said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat following offseason and then this past season, I\u2019ve made some pretty big leaps forward in that regard. Physically, athletically, I think I\u2019m close to where I want to be, maybe an eight or nine out of 10. The big thing for me is definitely the technical leaps I can still make, and especially the nuances of the position. I mean, I still feel like I hadn\u2019t quite fully gotten the nuances of H-back yet when I made the transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henning credits his athleticism and ability to adapt between positions to his multi-sport background. Born outside of Munich before moving to Canada at the age of two, he spent much of his childhood focused on the other form of football most popular in his native Germany. While he did star on the gridiron in high school, his original intention was never to continue in university. Instead, he enrolled at Queen\u2019s in the hopes of landing a tryout with the basketball team thanks to his height.<\/p>\n

Only when that didn\u2019t materialize did he send an email to head coach Steve Snyder asking if he could walk on with the Gaels football team. He was initially rejected, but that changed when a couple of players dropped out shortly before training camp opened up. A last-minute offer was extended, and the rest is history.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo courtesy: James Paddle-Grant\/Queen\u2019s Athletics<\/p>\n

With a second-team All-Canadian selection in 2025, Henning has the unique distinction of receiving national recognition at two different positions. His athletic traits have CFL scouts believing that he has the upside to be a true ratio-breaking offensive tackle at the next level with a little development. Though he didn\u2019t crack the Scouting Bureau\u2019s top 20 rankings in either of the first two iterations, some are already projecting him to be the first U Sports player selected in this year\u2019s draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I may have a case for it, but I can\u2019t say it\u2019s me for certain,\u201d Henning said of the possibility. \u201cOne of my teammates is also in the draft this year, Justin Pace, and he\u2019s another guy with tons of upside. I think he\u2019s someone that should also be in the conversation, but I\u2019d love it if I could throw my name in there too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henning isn\u2019t boastful by nature. The geology student is a relatively quiet guy who enjoys the solitary pursuits of fishing and brewing his own mead. One day, when football is long over, he dreams of moving to the Yukon and pursuing his passion for environmentalism.<\/p>\n

When he predicts his testing scores or projects his CFL future, it isn\u2019t an overconfident facade. All the evidence points to it being a reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m gonna say there\u2019s no ceiling (to what I can accomplish), just to toot my own horn a little bit. I definitely have a lot of upside,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m playing at a very high level where I am, but I still think there\u2019s plenty of room for me to improve. I\u2019m an eager learner, and I\u2019ve just been on a constant development trajectory since I got to Queen\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

That trajectory will continue somewhere else beginning on Tuesday, April 28, at 7:00 p.m. EDT, when the 2026 CFL Draft commences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: James Paddle-Grant\/Queen\u2019s Athletics If this is your first time reading Niklas Henning\u2019s name, you\u2019d better get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,49,48,7028,521,522,520,203968,168653,527,168664,217496,2002,168676,61574,82],"class_list":["post-563575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-cfl-combine","tag-cfl-draft","tag-football","tag-gaels","tag-golden-gaesl","tag-league","tag-niklas-henning","tag-queens","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}