Brothers Hayden and Hudson Henry learned about being physical football players at an early age from their father Mark.
"Before Hudson's first day of padded practice when he was playing pee-wee ball, our dad got us out in our front yard in full pads, and he made me -- I'm not kidding -- run him over for like, an hour," Hayden said. "He was trying to teach Hudson how to tackle. He was like, 'Go hit him! Go hit him! Go hit him!'
"We were 4 or 5 years old."
Hayden is now 22 and Hudson 20, and they're still playing football as teammates for the University of Arkansas.
Hayden is a fifth-year senior and starting linebacker. Hudson is a redshirt junior tight end.
The Henry brothers, also teammates at Pulaski Academy, will be playing in their hometown of Little Rock when the Razorbacks take on the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 11 a.m. today in War Memorial Stadium.
"It's been awesome, and it's been really cool because it's been something that in high school we thought could maybe happen," Hayden said. "Then Hudson decided he wanted to be a Hog, and we got to spend three more years together.
"So it's been really special, and it's a lot of fun coming to work with him every day, and at times being able to compete against him and meet him in the gap and hit him and stuff like that. It's been enjoyable to say the least."
Hudson said the brothers grew up dreaming of playing for the Razorbacks, as did their father and oldest brother.
Mark Henry was an All-Southwest Conference center as a senior in 1991. Hunter Henry, who now plays for the New England Patriots, was an All-American in 2015 as a junior and won the Mackey Award as the nation's top tight end before entering the NFL Draft.
"I think it played a big role in my decision honestly whenever I was coming out of high school," Hudson said of being teammates with his brother again. "I was able to have family with me if I came to Arkansas, and that's been pretty cool to have the past three years.
"Especially this year, with Hayden coming back and playing another year, it's been really fun. Just having him around makes this place seem more like home."
During camp, the brothers had fun telling stories of their father offering ice cream treats from Dairy Queen as youngsters if they made another player cry.
"I think that translated into my college play," said Hayden, who has 142 career tackles, including 59 this season. "I also think the game is meant to be played a certain way, and I appreciate individuals that play it that way.
"I think it's a hard, fast, physical game and I think there is only one way to do it."
Hayden and Hudson stressed their father -- a pastor at Fellowship Bible Church -- has a softer side.
"I promise he's a great guy, he's awesome," Hudson said. "He just tried to get us tough. I think he gets on us a lot, and we tell these stories that kind of make him look bad.
"Yeah, he's definitely old school. But my dad is a man of God, and he's super loving. He was very loving to us growing up."
Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman was the Razorbacks' offensive line coach from 2013-15 during Hunter's playing career and now he gets to coach two more Henrys.
"It's incredible," Pittman said of the family legacy. "I mean, only thing is we wish [Mark and his wife Jenny] had some more kids, you know.
"If they'd have just kept piling them kids out, we might be winning a national championship by now. But three of them's plenty."
Hayden said he was set to sign with the Air Force Academy until Arkansas offered him a scholarship starting his second semester.
"I think I decided three days before signing day that I was going to be a Razorback," he said. "I definitely had plans of other places, but I had the opportunity to be here and happy I chose it."
Hudson had more than 30 scholarship offers, including Alabama, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Clemson, Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Oregon, Penn State and Stanford.
"I think deep down, really deep down in my heart, I knew I wanted to come here, but I wanted to keep my options open," he said. "I wanted to be able to say that at the end of the day that I let every other school have an opportunity to try to recruit me and try to get me to come to their school, and that's what I did.
"At the end of the day I knew that coming here would be the best opportunity for me."
Hudson has been limited by injuries the last two seasons and has 21 catches for 129 yards in 14 career games, but he said he's healthy now. Last week against Auburn he had his first two receptions of the season for 22 yards -- and both resulted in first downs.
"I was proud of him," Pittman said. "He made plays, he was physical. He's done that in practice. He's just been a guy that's been hurt a lot this year. He finally got healthy."
Playing in War Memorial Stadium will be familiar for the brothers who played numerous high school playoff games there.
"I think going back there is special, even though we have a different jersey on and are playing for a different team," Hudson said. "It's special because we're playing in our own backyard."
During a video interview this week, Hudson, in particular, had fun recalling his sibling rivalry with Hayden.
"Hayden and I used to fight a lot, especially over sports-related stuff," he said. "Hayden and I were outside playing pickup basketball. It starts off kind of easy, then it starts to get really physical because you're trying to beat your older brother.
"I started throwing elbows a little bit, then he started throwing elbows. I just got p * * * *d off and threw the ball straight at his head.
"He ducked and had great reflexes and came at me and just cracked me across my face. I fell on the ground, and he got on top of me and just pummeled me with punches.
"I got up and ran inside and locked my door. It was funny. It was good stuff. There are many stories like that."
Another story involved the two wrestling.
"It got a little intense and Hayden put me in a chokehold," Hudson said. "I was so mad that I acted like I was dead. Hayden started freaking out.
"I was sitting there with my eyes rolled back in my head just pretending. Hayden was throwing water on my face."
Hayden joked about his brother digging into the family archives.
"I promise we had fun growing up together, too," he said. "Stories like those, 10 minutes later we're fine and we're best friends again. But yes, we are very competitive."
