Seantrel Henderson, the Cretin-Derham Hall offensive lineman who is one of the most sought-after recruits in the nation, appears ready to close the book on the recruiting process. I visited with Henderson before basketball practice this afternoon, and I wasn't the only visitor. Ohio State assistant coachesDick Tressell andJim Bollman were on hand to watch Henderson practice his second sport
Tressel, the brother of Buckeyes head coachJim Tressell,is a former athletic director and footballcoach at Hamline. He now coaches running backs at Ohio State. Bollman is the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.
Henderson will be at the University of Miami this weekend for his final official visit. The others were to Ohio State, USC, Notre Dame and Florida. I asked him if he's ready for recruiting to end.
"Yeah, I’ll be real glad," he said. "There’s been a lot of stuff, it kind of gets you off track a little bit, with all the personal things you’ve got going on in your life, too. I’ll be real happy when it’s over. A lot of things will slow down."
He said he does not know where he will go to college ("Iwish I did"). When I asked if hehas whittled his list, hesaid his list is down to the five schools he will officially visit.
The obvious follow-up question was, what about Minnesota? Has he eliminated the Gophers from consideration?
He quickly replied, "Minnesota’s still in, too."
You can probably read too much into that, or maybe he has already eliminated Minnesota but wants to tread carefully with his hometown college. We won't know until Wednesday, which is signing day.