Seantrel chooses USC
One of the most highly-sought recruits this year, Cretin-Derham Hall offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson today chose USC as his college of choice on National Signing Day. His choice came despite the recent departure of Pete Carroll, who moved to Seattle to run the Seahawks recently, and has been replaced by Lane Kiffen, formerly of the Oakland Raiders and a one-time candidate for the Gophers job that went to Tim Brewster.
Brewster tried as hard as anyone could to land Henderson, but even if Minnesota had Kiffen instead of Brewster as coach, he would have had a hard time keeping Henderson at home. Why? Simple: Kiffen can offer Henderson southern California winters; Minnesota can’t. Send that out on your iPods.
And when everyone is after you, as was the case with Henderson, that makes it hard to land a guy like that. Of course, USC is taking on some risks, too; Henderson needs to work hard to meet academic eligibility requirements, so the signing won’t mean much if he struggles with his grades. That would have been an even bigger issue for other Henderson finalist schools like Minnesota and Notre Dame, which have higher academic standards than USC.
Still, Henderson is a solid “get” for the Trojans; but losing the Henderson sweepstakes is by no means a knock against Brewster. Some recruits just have too many huge schools going after them.
