Seantrel Henderson Is Now A Miami Hurricane

Blue chip recruit Seantrel Henderson’s long, strange trip through the recruiting process ends on this the ninth day of July, 2010, a full seven months after the 2009 season ended and five months after National Signing Day.

Henderson will—we think, barring any further drama—arrive at the University of Miami’s campus in the fall to play football for the Hurricanes. This follows Henderson’s release from his letter of intent for USC, his original commitment that went to pieces when the NCAA announced heavy sanctions against the Trojans for the infractions of the Reggie Bush case.

Henderson will not lose any eligibility or suffer any penalty for his transfer. Additionally, his father will have a platform for his rap career, since Miami has spawned successful rappers like Uncle Luke, Trick Daddy, Pit Bull, Flo-Rida, and Rick Ross. That this is even a consideration probably goes a long way towards explaining why this took so long and involved so much relentless nonsense, but good luck to all involved anyway.

Now that USC has released Seantrel Henderson from his scholarship which allows him to sign with any team without having to sit out a year, it is now time to get some reaction from the USC side.  SB Nation's USC blog Conquest Chronicle feels that it is not necessarily a bad thing to lose the nation's number two recruit:

... this remains a small victory for USC. Even more so in the wake of the NCAA sanctions, USC remains a "big boy" program reserved for athletes with killer instincts and intense competitive spirits, who are driven and motivated to become the best players possible. The right players for this program are not, however, motivated by the possibility of playing in one or two bowl games, as Kiffin echoed the other day.

Here are some words from Lane Kiffin echoing the importance of playing in more then playing in bowl games:

"I hope in the end Seantrel sees what every other freshman in this class has... that one or two games isn't why you choose a university," Kiffin said. "They didn't come to SC because of a bowl game the first or second year. They came here because of the education; they came here because of the football program."

Conquest Chronicles also believes big time recruits will still go to USC because of their history of sending players to the NFL draft:

If Seantrel has a problem in missing out on a bowl game and seeing the big picture in all of this, than USC probably isn't the best fit for him in the first place. The USC football program does one thing better than any other school in America - getting players to the NFL. Just look at the number of draft picks that hail from this university. It's staggering. That's why you come to 'SC.

The 2011 class is when we will see if any top recruits will spurn USC for other programs due to their sanctions, but according to Conquest Chronicle they believe the Trojans will still get the top recruits. 

Looks like Seantrel Henderson received his wish and is being released from his scholarship which will allow Henderson to go to any school without having to sit out a year.

USC head coach Lane Kiffin issued a statement about releasing Seantrel Henderson from his letter of intent:

"As of 1:30 p.m, we are releasing Seantrel Henderson out of his national letter of intent with zero penalties and no restrictions," Kiffin said in a statement. "Seantrel has been great through the whole process and we wish him the best of luck in his decision."

Now the attention turns to where will Seantrel Henderson end up. All signs point to Miami, where he may or may not have been over the weekend.

The known news is that Seantrel Henderson is looking to get out of his USC commitment and that Miami is on his wish list, but where it gets interesting is if Henderson was actually in Miami over the holiday weekend.  There are multiple reports that said he was visiting the Miami campus:

Seantel Henderon ... was in Miami on Saturday. The Hurricanes were believed to be Henderson's second choice behind USC, which has been futilely waiting for him to report. The Hurricanes were believed to be Henderson's second choice behind USC, which has been futilely waiting for him to report.

Then there is now a contradictory report that say Henderson was not in Miami at all this weekend. Something to chew on is that this report is the only one that could be found that said Henderson was not in Miami this weekend.

Plus there is the tidbit that USC may not release Henderson from his scholarship:

Making matters more difficult is that sources say the USC coaches planned to tell Henderson that they wouldn't release him from his Letter of Intent. That could prove to be an issue for both sides; a person close to the situation summed things up perfectly: if Seantrel were really interested in playing for USC then he would already be in LA instead of spending his summer playing basketball around the Twin Cities.

Then there is USC centric SB Nation blog Conquest Chronicles is now starting to not care if Seantrel Henderson ends up a Trojan or not.