It’s less than 48 hours until the nation’s #1 recruit Seantrel Henderson announces his college decision. GopherHole.com’s Nadine Babu brings the latest on the recruitment with an in-depth conversation with Sean Henderson who shares his thoughts on his last minute visit with Tim Brewster, his official visit to Miami and other final thoughts on Ohio State, Notre Dame, Florida, USC and Iowa.

GH: Thanks so much for taking the time to chat, I know you have been hounded by every media outlet. How has it been?
SH: It’s been great. I’m glad it’s coming to a close, it’s been so hectic the last week or two. It’s good for Seantrel, we just wanted him to take as much time as he could, and do as much information gathering, and see as many places as possible to be able to make the right decision on Wednesday.

GH: How was your Miami visit this past weekend?
SH: It was beautiful, being from Minnesota, the weather felt like it was late May, it really felt like it was around Memorial Day. It got up to about 80 degrees, we got to see South Beach. The University of Miami is in Coral Gables, we were also in Coconut Grove at one point, and we had a good time.

GH: What about the University of Miami as a school?
SH: It’s a small, quaint school, I think they have between 8,000 – 9,000 students, the class sizes are smaller, which is one of the things we liked about it. Being a private school and small class sizes, I think that would be a great environment for Seantrel.

GH: I haven’t spoken to you since your Florida visit, how did that go?
SH: They showed us a really good time, we got to meet a lot of the coaches. We had lunch, we had dinner, they were a little disappointed by the fact that we had to come during a quiet period, when they couldn’t show us the whole effect of Florida football, because there weren’t any games going on, and school was out. Overall, we had a really positive visit, we got to meet the Athletic Director and people in the Admissions office, the academic counselors and many other people, so it went really well.

GH: Between Notre Dame, USC, and Florida – they have all had some coaching changes, or coaching uncertainty. How much are you focusing on the school vs. the coach?
SH: We know the coaches have change, and the do change. The coach and the players are definitely important to Seantrel. We are also not letting that be the decision maker for us, or the deal-breaker. We’re just going to have to change with it.

GH: When Lane Kiffin took over for Pete Carroll, how was your meeting with him?
SH: Lane Kiffin and Monte Kiffin came, we found out coincidentally that our fathers are turning 70 and are about 3 days apart. That was interesting. The fact that he graduated from Bloomington Jefferson 3 or 4 years after I graduated from Minneapolis North, that was interesting too. We had a lot to talk about. None of the other coaches have actually spent that much time in Minnesota as the Kiffin’s have. Coach Ed Orgeron was actually in The Blind Side movie, so I recognized him through that. Some of the things they talked about were what they done at Tennessee, and out at the Oakland Raiders. Coach Craig and Coach Kiffin were both part of the Raiders and they did an amazing job. They took the Raiders from 31st in the league in rushing up to 6th in the league in rushing the year that they were there. That says a lot about what they do for the offensive line. There were a lot of things that we like about their visit.

GH: Can you tell me the details of how Seantrel will announce his decision?
SH: We’ll be leaving for New York tomorrow morning and he’ll be making his announcement on the Tom Lemming show on Wednesday afternoon.

GH: Where can people tune in to see that?
SH: It will be on the CBS College Sports network, I believe it’s on cable or satellite TV.

GH: What time?
SH: Sometime in the afternoon.

GH: Will he tell the coach that he’s going to be committing to before he announces it publicly?
SH: No, we’ll be doing it on TV.

GH: How was your visit to the University of Minnesota last night?
SH: It went well, we had a nice time. We spent time with Coach Brewster and the rest of the coaches. We got back from Miami at about 3:30p.m. and went over there about 7pm. I specifically told them that we wanted to come and meet with them last out of all of the schools because that was the only right way to do it. They were first out of all of our visits, and we wanted them to be last as well.

GH: I heard they put on a special evening for Seantrel, what did that entail?
SH: Not anything special, they just got us together, and we watched the Pro Bowl and he played video games. It was just good for everybody to be there and come by, they brought their wives and a couple of them brought their kids so they made it real comfortable.

GH: Did they make a huge cut-out of Seantrel?
SH: They had a cutout of Seantrel in a Gophers’ uniform, and stuff like that. It was nice. They’re recruiting and that’s what they do.

GH: Was that the first time Seantrel was able to meet the Gopher’s new Offensive Coordinator, Jeff Horton?
SH: No, we met him the Saturday before at the Michigan State/Gophers basketball game.

GH: What are your thoughts on him?
SH: He was okay.

GH: There have been a lot of rumors as to what happened with Seantrel’s Iowa offer, when did you eliminate them?
SH: Iowa eliminated themselves when they found out that they couldn’t be our 5th official visit. I thought that was a poor choice on their part, but it just makes it a little easier on us.

GH: Even though he went down there for an unofficial visit?
SH: He went their twice, so I really don’t get why they needed us to have a “official visit.” The only difference is basically that they’d be paying for us to stay in the hotel, other than that, I think they’re too concerned with how people will view them in the media, and maybe what they read in the paper and on websites. I think it was more about that, if it’s not known that we weren’t going to take an official visit there, then it didn’t pull as much weight. I don’t know – I would think that if Seantrel had taken his own particular interest to go down there twice on his own, they would be able to see that he was somewhat serious.

GH: Rumors surfaced today about James Louis (and Ohio State soft verbal) possibly switching his commitment to Minnesota. There was talk about him rooming with Seantrel, is there any truth to this?
SH: Seantrel hasn’t committed to Ohio state whatsoever, I don’t even know who that is. So I can’t comment on that.



Previous interviews with Seantrel Henderson leading up to Signing Day 2010

Previous article: The nation's #1 - Seantrel Henderson lists the pros and cons of the schools he's visited

Previous article: Seantrel Henderson's recruitment, through the eyes of his parents

Previous article: March '09 Q&A with Seantrel Henderson

Previous article: Big Seantrel Henderson takes in Gophers - Indiana game, Fall 2008

Previous basketball article: Royce White, Seantrel Henderson and Dyami Starks at Howard Pulley Practice


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