ATLANTA - When E.J. Henderson began playing linebacker for Maryland, his goal was simply to emulate one of the Terps' top defensive players, Eric Barton.

"When he left, it was like, 'I just want to be where he was at,'" Henderson said. "I just wanted to make the same types of plays he made."

Henderson has made those plays - and more. As he heads into his final game for Maryland tonight in the Peach Bowl, Henderson ranks among the Terps' all-time greatest players.

Only two other Terps, Randy White (1973-1974) and Bob Ward (1950-1951), have been named to two consecutive Associated Press All-America first teams, as Henderson has the past two years. Henderson also won the Butkus and Bednarik awards for the nation's best linebacker and defensive player overall, respectively.

"When you have the defensive player of the year, that speaks well to what he's done," said Rod Sharpless, Henderson's position coach, when asked where Henderson fits in among those who have played for the Terps.

With 461 career tackles going into tonight's game, Henderson will likely surpass Chuck Faucette's 466 tackles (1983-1986) to move into second place on the list behind Eric Wilson's 481, compiled from 1981 to 1984.

This year, he became the school's all-time leader in tackles for loss and has 58.5 for his career, one of many things he wouldn't have ima- gined when he left Aberdeen and arrived at College Park in 1998.

In his first year at Maryland, he admired linebackers Barton and Kendall Ogle, players near the end of their time at Maryland. In particular, he admired Barton, now a starter for the Oakland Raiders who also swept sideline to sideline.

"If Maryland had been winning, [Barton] would have been getting the same types of accolades that I got," said Henderson, whose 109 tackles in 2000 went unnoticed in a 5-6 season.

But somewhere along the way, Henderson stopped admiring and began inspiring.

"There are some other players who complement E.J., but he's certainly the heart and soul of our defense," defensive coordinator Gary Blackney said. "He's the guy who makes us go."

If wins help a player get noticed, it's because the player does not shrink from the biggest moments, such as October last year in Atlanta in a nationally televised victory over Georgia Tech that marked Maryland's turnaround.

In a game billed as one matching Terps head coach Ralph Friedgen and the offense he used to coach, Henderson left as the dominant figure - 18 tackles, four of them for losses, in addition to returning a fumble 36 yards for a touchdown.

That performance - in the midst of a run of 15 10-tackle games in the last two years - elevated Henderson to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference's class of linebackers.

As an assistant coach for Clemson since the 1980s, Rick Stockstill has a fairly good handle on linebackers in the league.

"In the 1980s, Clemson had some good linebackers," he said, mentioning Levon Kirkland, among others. He also listed Florida State's Derrick Brooks and Marvin Jones, and said: "I think [Henderson] ranks right up there with those guys. He's bigger [6 feet 2, 250 pounds] than the other guys, and he's fast as well."

Blackney also ranks Henderson among the best defenders he has witnessed in 30 years of coaching college football, including stops at UCLA, Syracuse and Ohio State.

Former Seattle Seahawks all-pro Kenny Easley, a safety, is still Blackney's favorite, but Henderson is not far behind. "When you're looking at guys like Kenny Easley, Chris Spielman at Ohio State, Tim Green at Syracuse, they all have the same qualities as E.J.," he said. "They all have a passion. They all have a plan. They're self-motivated, high-energy guys, and they love the game because they love the contact."

Once emulating others, Henderson now has a style of his own. "E.J.'s style of play is E.J.," Sharpless said. "He doesn't have the personality to be someone who he is not."

Off the field, Henderson still can seem uncomfortable with the attention. In public appearances, he often speaks in a voice barely above a mumble.

Friedgen spoke of the dinner for a nationally televised football awards show during which Henderson won the Bednarik Award, requiring him to get up and give a short speech.

"'I hope I don't have to go up there,'" he recalled Henderson saying, following with the post-speech comment: "'Coach, my heart was pounding so hard, I thought it was going to come out of my chest.'"

So it is not a surprise that Henderson would keep his sermons to a minimum for younger linebackers such as D'Qwell Jackson, one of two freshmen sharing living quarters with him.

When Shawne Merriman cost Maryland a 15-yard personal foul penalty in a game this season, Henderson pulled him aside and suggested there might be a better way to celebrate a big play than a grand gesture.

But, as he was taught, Henderson has tried to teach by deed and not by word, with the hope of similar results.

"You just watch the way he acts, and you want to relate to that," Jackson said. "He makes everything look so easy, so graceful. You just sit back and watch. It looks natural to him, but he's put in his time. He's been here five years, and you can see his hard work show."