Records reveal new incident before Marquise Henderson’s dismissal from Clemson
Former Clemson football player Marquise Henderson was allegedly involved in some sort of verbal altercation in the locker room three days before he was dismissed from the team, records show.
The severity of that altercation varied based on eyewitness accounts, but one person who was identified in the report as a student alleged that Henderson threatened to harm multiple teammates and showed them a picture of a gun during the incident.
A Clemson University Police Department incident report, obtained Monday by The State via public records request, revealed two officers were dispatched to the football facilities on June 16 after receiving a report of someone making threats.
Henderson, a true freshman athlete and in-state recruit expected to play receiver for the Tigers, was not arrested or charged with any crimes, the report said.
According to the report, one student (whose name was redacted) told an employee that Henderson had threatened to harm multiple teammates and was showing them a picture of a gun in Clemson’s locker room.
This followed an argument that stemmed from one of those teammate calling out Henderson for missing team workouts, the report says.
A second employee also told police they’d been told Henderson made threats to other players. Two players interviewed by police downplayed the severity of interaction, but one player did confirm someone showed him a picture of a gun on their cell phone in the locker room on June 16.
Henderson, 18, was formally dismissed from Clemson three days later on June 19. He entered the transfer portal and said on June 25 he’d committed to play at Liberty University. But Henderson has since deleted that social media post saying that he’d committed to Liberty. His future plans are unclear.
Reached by The State, a team spokesman referred to a statement released the day of Henderson’s dismissal, in which Clemson said it wished Henderson “the best as he moves forward.” The spokesman deferred further comment to coach Dabo Swinney, who is scheduled to address the media Tuesday.
Here’s what else a police report revealed about the incident involving Henderson:
What police report shows about Marquise Henderson incident
A university police officer was dispatched to Clemson’s Allen Reeves Football Complex around 3:20 p.m. on Monday, June 16 to “take a report of threats.” A CUPD sergeant also responded “due to the severity of the allegations” and the potential of having to do multiple on-scene interviews.
Those two officers initially met with a male Clemson employee (whose name was redacted) to discuss an allegation. The employee told officers that a student had come to him to talk about an incident that took place in Clemson’s locker room between Henderson and other players that morning.
A “student” could hypothetically be a Clemson football player or student worker/intern. An “employee” could be a Clemson coach, support staffer or any other university employee working at the football complex in some capacity.
According to the student’s account to the employee in the report, another Clemson player had been “chastising Henderson for missing workouts” in the locker room when Henderson “became angry.” Henderson, the student alleged, threatened to “fade” multiple teammates (a slang term for fighting) and also said that he would “get his boys to ‘run up on them’” (the teammates he’d been arguing with).
The employee who officers initially spoke with “also mentioned that he had heard of a picture of a firearm being shown” by Henderson to teammates. Another male employee, whose name was redacted, told police a student had told him about Henderson threatening teammates. But that student “had made no mention of the picture of the firearm,” the second employee told police.
It’s unclear if those employees were referencing conversations with the same student or different students. Every name outside of Henderson’s is redacted.
Before police interviewed Clemson players, the second employee warned police that “players may be hesitant to speak out against their teammates.” Police ultimately interviewed two football players with knowledge of the incident, according to the report. Their names are redacted, and it’s unclear if they were the players directly involved and allegedly being threatened by Henderson in the locker room.
The first player interviewed by police said he could not recall “Henderson threatening anyone.” He said that players were “getting on Henderson about the missed workouts” and their ensuing altercation involved insults but not threats. The player confirmed that “someone showed him a picture of a firearm on their phone” but did not attribute that directly to Henderson. The player told police he did not know who showed him the picture or where the picture came from.
Police interviewed a second player, whose “accounting of the event was similar” to the first player. That player didn’t recall “any threats being made by Henderson and has no knowledge of a picture of a firearm being shown,” the report said.
Police provided both of the players they interviewed with contact information “in the event they remembered anything or heard anything new” and left the scene after about three hours without any further action.
The case is still listed as “active” and has an investigator assigned.
Marquise Henderson’s background, time at Clemson
Henderson enrolled early at Clemson in January after a prolific career at Belton-Honea Path High School, about 45 minutes from campus in Anderson County.
He was the No. 4 player in the state of South Carolina and the No. 182 recruit nationally per the 247Sports Composite. Henderson suffered a hamstring injury early in Clemson’s spring practice schedule, Swinney said. He practiced minimally and did not play in the April 5 spring game.
Neither Clemson nor Swinney had publicly disclosed if Henderson was facing any suspensions or team discipline when the program dismissed him on June 19.
Henderson’s time at Clemson from enrollment to dismissal lasted roughly five months. He finished his Tigers career without playing a regular-season snap.
“Clemson has made the decision to dismiss Marquise Henderson from its program,” the team said at the time. “We wish him the best as he moves forward.”
This story was originally published July 14, 2025 at 1:50 PM with the headline "Records reveal new incident before Marquise Henderson’s dismissal from Clemson."
