Henson and Brady -- These guy have a history of making headlines together

He's won two Super Bowl championships.

He catches women's eyes like he is Tom Cruise, and he just might be receiving one of the richest contracts in NFL history.

Still, I wonder? Does New England Patriots' QB Tom Brady ever think back to his days at the University of Michigan and say to himself, "Drew Henson eat your heart out."

Well, we'd all like to be Tom Brady these days. He's the essential guy men want to be and women want to be with, but he never seems to gloat about being what you could, basically, call The USA National Homecoming or Prom King.

However, if you were to compare him to Maverick in the movie "Top Gun," then Henson definitely could be considered his Ice Man.

With Henson leaving the New York Yankees and reportedly going to join the Houston Texans, the NFL team that drafted him, ESPN has had too many of its analysts falsely say Henson kept Brady on the bench while at Michigan. Quite the contrary, that's not true. Here's the true story.

A virtual high school Golden Boy as a top-five national high school recruit at Brigthton (Mich.) High School, Henson was thought to be all but given the starting quarterback position at Michigan during his junior year of high school when he declared he was going to become a Wolverine.

Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr had to nearly sell his soul to get him, as he made a deal with Henson that he wouldn't recruit another quarterback till his junior year at the University.

Carr had to match this deal with Florida State's Bobby Bowden, who gave Henson the same offer first.

So following a summer of lower A-ball with the Yankees in 1998, Henson arrived in Ann Arbor to battle junior Tom Brady for the starting job.

Brady already had played behind other elite Michigan quarterbacks -- Scott Dreisbach, Jason Kapsner and Brian Griese the two previous seasons.

Many fans and critics wondered why Brady was even given the chance to start at all, which intensified as the defending '97 National Champion Michigan Wolverines lost badly in their first two games against Notre Dame and Syracuse.

Even though a poor defense against the option should've been blamed for those losses, many fans were at the throat of Brady, as the Wolverines fans screamed and pouted for Henson to be put in from the stands.

Then, Michigan would then go on to win 10 of their last 11 games on the strength of Brady's arm, Anthony Thomas' legs and a much-improved defense.

Henson would get his spots to play and possibly earn the starting role his freshman year, but he looked like he was still playing third base, throwing one hoppers to his receivers like he would have had to sometimes to a first baseman.

Ironically, fans finally came around to the former bench warmer Brady and started to boo Henson.

The way Brady played his junior year should've undoubtedly earned him the starting job the following year (1999), but it didn't.

Carr would give many more chances to Henson to win the starting job than he did the previous year, and in the first few games, Henson and Brady would alternate nearly every series.

It wasn't until an embarrassing loss to rival Michigan State that Brady would finally show he was the better man behind the center.

Henson played most of the first half and struggled as Michigan State's defense was more aggressive than one of their student body's late '90s riots.

Brady came in and nearly led the Wolverines back, before they wound up losing 34-31.

Michigan would go on to finish 10-2 behind Brady in 1999, including an exciting Orange Bowl win against that year's SEC Champion, Alabama.

Carr used his two quarterbacks more wisely following the Michigan State loss.

He had Brady fake an injury in a win against Penn State, and the more athletic Henson came in the next play and ran a very successful quarterback throwback play, in which he caught the pass, then ran for a lengthy gain. Meanwhile, Brady, all the while laughing, came jumping and hopping around like a frog.

Following the '99 season, Brady would go on to be a sixth-round pick of the Patriots as we know, but some scouts obviously never saw his game against Michigan State or the Orange Bowl his senior year as they, along with the magazine, Pro Football Weekly, said he couldn't handle pressure situations coming in as a rookie.

Henson would start his junior year with an injured foot, but would lead the Wolverines to a 9-3 record before he left at the end of the season to concentrate full time on baseball. He had been traded back to the Yankees from the Cincinnati Reds and was offered a hefty contract.

There were never any reports of ill feelings between the two former quarterback combatants while both were at Michigan, but there were undoubtedly many TV camera shots of both of them at times unpleased to be on the sidelines with a head set on.

In a sense, Carr can be the one Brady can say, "Eat your heart now," as he can say he was always this good. However, in a similar situation, former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith has always been said to be the only who kept Michael Jordan under 20 points a game.

Brady has been way to classy to ever point the finger at anyone. Plus, he probably has reason to believe that the roller coaster of emotions he experienced as a Wolverines quarterback helped him become the youngest quarterback to win two Super Bowls.

Many NFL experts thought that if Henson, after his junior season, had chosen the NFL over baseball, then he would've been the one drafted first in 2002 by the Texans and not David Carr.

With an athletic ability similar to John Elway, who also played minor league ball with the Yankees before going to the NFL, Henson gets his chance to prove how good he'll be in the NFL soon.

Of course, we already know how good Brady has become. Now it will be interesting to see just how good Henson can become some day too.