The nation’s #1 recruit and the top recruit left on Notre Dame’s board, Seantrel Henderson, will be announcing his college decision on Signing Day on Tom Lemming’s Signing Day special on CBS College Sports. Henderson is still deciding between 8 schools – Notre Dame included.
Henderson has long been one of the most pivotal recruits on Notre Dame’s board this year due to the need at left tackle on the Irish roster. With both starting tackles from the 2009 Irish offensive line exhausting their eligibility, there will be two tackles spots up for grabs heading into the season and Henderson could very likely find himself holding one of those spots should he end up in South Bend.
The recruitment of Henderson is going to be one of the first major challenges for new head coach Brian Kelly. At his previous stints at Cincinnati and Central Michigan, Kelly wasn’t going after the #1 prospects in the country. Landing a recruit like Seantrel Henderson certainly would quiet any remaining concerns on Kelly’s ability to recruit on a national level.
So far Henderson has kept his recruitment pretty well concealed and while there are some grumblings about where he may be leaning right now, no one seems to have a really good idea of where Henderson will end up. USC was at one time considered the favorite, but it’s not clear how the departure of Pete Carroll and the arrival of Lane Kiffin will have on his decision.
Working in Notre Dame’s favor is rising junior Michael Floyd who attended the same high school as Henderson and played on the same team as him during his senior year at Cretin Derham.
Interestingly enough, the Pioneer Press reported that Henderson is still working on getting his ACT score up.
Henderson has recorded a 17 on the ACT test and needs to raise that to 19 to qualify. He plans to take the test again Feb. 6. Henderson’s father said if he maintains a B average in his core classes the rest of his senior year, he won’t need to get a 19 on the ACT. But Henderson doesn’t want to take that route.
“He wants to get that 19 on his own,” Sean Henderson said. “We are keeping him on track (academically). He wants to show that.”
Considering how long the Irish have been recruiting Henderson and how much effort has been spent on his recruitment though, the Irish staff must be confident that Henderson will qualify without any issues.
Notre Dame received a surprise commitment on Signing Day last year when 5-star linebacker Manti Te’o picked the Irish over USC and UCLA.
Could Kelly and Notre Dame catch lightning in a bottle two years in a row? Dayne Crist and the Irish quarterbacks certainly hope so.
Yes, ND is a quality school, with great heritage, tradition as well as a tremendous fan base. The problem I see for ND Football, is that the curent state of recruiting and the processes involved, will keep ND where you’ve been the last decade. It will take some time to revive the Irish to legendary status, but I think 2 years is a fair target to see you threaten for upper BCS bowl games.
Personally, as an SC alum, I’d like nothing more than our rivalry to be a nail-bitting affair, which simply elevates the competition, recruiting and the best non-conference rivalry in college football–period.
On the educational portion of what’s been argued here; while ND has always had stringent academic standards, and is a great gageway into professional life, the list of applications and acceptance levels between USC and Notre Dame is widening each year. It showcases how difficult it is now to gain admittance into USC. Our acceptance rate is only 43%, and remember…most kids are prequalfying themselves first, before even completing the application. Yes, there was a time in the 70s and 80s where the discrepancy was ridiculous, but check out the list of universities with S&P or USAToday, and you’ll notice quickly, that the Marshall School of Business, stands only behind Harvard, Wharton, Stanford and Princeton–not to mention the standards of academic excellence set forth in the Pac 10 with Stanford, USC and Cal. UCLA has even slipped with their percentages in terms of graduation rate, and enrollment figures, largely in part of the State being so far in debt, the addmissions are compeltely out of whack with what the UC system used to demand. Why Cal is way out in front of Westwood is anyone’s guess. UCI in Irvine has passed UCLA in prestige and acceptance ratios.
Good luck with the recruits, Spring ball and tell Teo` it’s not too late to transfer after his mission! JK…we look forward to great clashes with the Irish under BK! Fight On!
Steelfan,
I understand your arguement concerning five star players vs two star players. All I am saying is that he needs to salvage this recruiting class and get players that fit his system. If you look at the recruiting rankings teams that typically make it into the top 15 have a shot at winning and making a BCS game. ND has had three solid recruiting classes and there is talent on the roster. Kelly was able to win all of his games and beat teams that CW lost two with a 60th ranked recruiting class. He now has a recruiting class which is not great by ND standards but is in the top 25. He can still get some recruits to join and fill out the class. Another thing people are forgetting is that his defense was not good but he lost 10 starters from the year before and I do believe they were better than our defense statistically. They did get drilled in their BCS game but Florida would have drilled ND in that game also. BK needs to worry about winning first and the recruits will come.
jack,
If there’s ABSOLUTELY NO correlation between rankings and results, why is it that the teams with the best recruiting ranking year in and year out also seem to be the perennial powers in college football? Sure, you can point to this or that 5 star recruit who was a bust or that 2 star recruit who was great. But that’s over generalizing. The truth is that the better a team recruits (i.e., lands the best players in the country), the better its chances are of being competitive (if not outright dominant) on the field. Now, I agree with you that system needs to be taken into account. And of course players need to be coached up to their full potential. But don’t tell me that a team of 2 star recruits will consistently beat a team of 5 star talent. That’s BS!
BTW: Anyone else notice that BK is offering another scholarship to a 2 star QB as per ESPN? How many QBs are we trying to bring in this class?
Stars don’t mean anything. I can go through a long list of 5 star players that didn’t amount to anything. We need players that buy into the system and do their job. Barr can have fun playing for UCLA, Martin can go to CAL and Lueders can have fun a Standford. They will never get the exposure that they would get at ND and was stupid choice on thier part. We will see what Kelly can do and what kind of recruits he can get next year.
I would love to see Henderson come to ND,I’m just tired of seeing all the time & effert spent on recruits who may not qualify.
I am a little worried about BK going after recruits like Collinsworth. I keep reading on recruiting websites about these athletes being “shocked” and “surprised” at offers from Notre Dame. They obviously don’t think they’re good enough to play here, but, here’s the thing..He gets a lot of production out of the athletes he’s given, so it’s going to be fun to watch. Also, Mardy Gilyard was a 2 star recruit, and Sam Bradford was a 3-star recruit.
The problem is you’re not going to 18 to 20 players a year who are diamonds in the rough.. One maybe two, are you going to risk that? In an interview he said he doesn’t like going after big time recruits which coaching at a high caliber school and compete with the best you have to recruit with them.. Bring in recruiting classes in the 50s isn’t going to get the job done..
Unfortunately, and ironically, BK has to win at ND before they come. Ironic because they would come for CW playing sub 500 ball because he has a super bowl ring. Go figure,
Totally agree
Once Kelly gets rollin (2) yrs we will have our ring-
not CWs
And maybe even this year–the cupboards AIN”T bare.
Just need coachin–thank goodness the whole staff left
including Polian and Hart
“playing mediocre football is not what a top recruit wants to do.”
We won’t be mediocre for long, my friend, so enjoy it while you still can. And Kiffin will turn USC into SMU in no time, so the comparison will soon be moot anyway.
Does anyone on here actually know the academic standards that a kid must must meet to be eligable to play at ND? GPA, ACT, SAT?
It’s subjective. I seen one of our commits for this year has a 2.5 GPA in high school, and I was shocked. So basically, we are like other schools, in that if you have talent you can get in. However, I believe we are different in that you have to keep the grades once you are in. Remember when we lost our possible All-American Julius Jones for academic reasons. ND does not put up with slacking once you’re accepted. The professors do not work with the athletic department in giving special treatment (or range rovers)
Ray, no one is comparing the rankings for the overall University, or even what the general student body needs to achieve for acceptance.
The fact remains that Notre Dame applies a higher standard for its athletes for admittance then that of the NCAA. The Service Acadamies and a handful of other Division 1 schools have standards above the minimum set by the NCAA.
For a Student Athlete to gain admission to the University of Notre Dame, their GPA as well as test scores need to be higher than the stated minimum set by the NCAA.
If USC is one of the few other Division 1 schools to do that, then I salute the University for it. But, if USC uses the NCAA minimums and then has a lower graduation rate of student athletes in comparison to the general studen body, then there is a difference between the 2 schools.
If USC, like Michigan as an example, has a major that less than 1% of the general student body matriculates, but that greater than 80% of the football team matriculates, then again I say there is a difference in academic standing between the 2 Universities.
For all of the failures of Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weis, all 3 consistently graduated their student athletes. This is not something new at Notre Dame, it is what is expected.
Mediocre enough to have suc fans posting on ND sites.
and by the way, he’s going to end up at Ohio State or Flordia anyway, why would he go to ND, playing mediocre football is not what a top recruit wants to do.
StillFighting I love your shot at USC mainly because your wrong. You Notre Dame fans act like your school is Harvard, truth is, ND’s overall academic ranking is not better then USC and most of it’s programs are ranked worse then USC’s. Stop acting all high and mighty by saying that this kid does not have to get his grades up to go to USC because your just wrong.
i do think he will end up at ohio state, but that doesn’t change the fact of what he is saying. to play at notre dame, you have to pursue a degree and carry the the full amount of credits(not sure how many these days). this means that they have to be smarter than some of the other players choosing the usc’s, bama’s, florida’s, etc. he was merely stating that fact. as far as usc’s students academics, we are not mocking those results just the fact that your school, along with others, exploit these athletes just for their football skills and do nothing as far as prepare them for the real world outside of football. it is people like you that are making it so easy to no longer respect these other universities that are worthy of respect outside of their exploitation of the student-athlete. it is people like you that make us look “holier than thou” because we need to constantly try to get this across to the likes of you. it is people like you that is killing college football in general. you are probably one of those types that hides their teams apparel during an off year or two, only to bring it out when you are winning. you are the type that stopped going to the coliseum when you lost a couple games. you are lucky that these kids don’t choose based on the fanbase, because usc would be a pimple on our ass.
Ray, where are you reading that USCs academic standards are higher than NDs?
I agree that USC is a really good school, but it’s much harder for a kid to get into ND, and it’s much, much harder for Notre Dame to find a top level “student athlete” that meets NDs academic standards than USC requires of its “athlete students.”
WHAT!!! USC is a so called private school but the public school(UCLA) down the street has a better graduation rate.. That’s pretty sad a so called academic private school is getting beat in the graduation rate by a public school.
C’mon on Seantrel you will be a star at ND!
I agree with the grades especially. No need to get your grades up if you’re planning on attending a program like USC. But like his dad said, he’s getting them up for him, so that shows some character if that’s the truth. Either way, it’s good news.
Manti Teo v. 2.0?
Could this be the 2nd year in a row that we get a top rated prospect on signing day when most thought we were out of the running? I am hoping so. I think knowing that he could come in and most likely start from day 1 would be a big selling point for Henderson. It does seem like a positive sign that he is trying so hard to get his grades up, seems like that would increase our chances.
Kelly will develop him. I know BK will be in his ear telling him to look at his resume in getting guys to the pros and these were at stops not typically dominant in football. CMU/Cinci….. Joe Staley was a 1st round pick out of CMU a couple years ago. Has been a stud all his career. What’s he play? Offensive Tackle!!!!!
GO IRISH
That sounds like a great selling point.