WR Will Henry

[DJR313]

The thing that I like, With Henry and at least 5 or 6 other Husker receivers. If the opposing team doesnt have tall D-backs, we have created one heck of a mismatch.

 

It is GREAT to see these big physical receivers just keep coming!

that's for sure. This guy seems like a good prospect, perhaps needs to add some weight(maybe a candidate for a redshirt season). A tall, physical receiver with good speed and good body control will be awesome in this offense, especially down close to the goal line. Throw it up to him and let him get it. I am glad NU nabbed him instead of Chris Mitchell(eventhough he seemed to not be too fond of Nebraska weather ). Mitchell may be a good receiver, but Henry could potentially add a different dynamic.

[Eric the Red]

WHat does he lack that so little attention has been shown?

[Blackshirtsguru]

WHat does he lack that so little attention has been shown?

EXACTLY!

[BigWillie]

WHat does he lack that so little attention has been shown?

Probably the fact you would have to take a bulldozer to pave a road to get to where his HS is.

[DJR313]

WHat does he lack that so little attention has been shown?

Probably the fact you would have to take a bulldozer to pave a road to get to where his HS is.

that's some hard-nosed recruitin' by Callahan and Co. then

[Blackshirtsguru]

WHat does he lack that so little attention has been shown?

Probably the fact you would have to take a bulldozer to pave a road to get to where his HS is.

I do agree! I went to a conference there in El Paso and I swear it was one of the worst cities I have ever been too! I swear I heard the theme song from Fist Full Of Dollars when I walked out into the street!

[pigsonthewing]

this guy has the height and speed to be a solid receiver here. has anybody seen his film? if his hands arent so great i can understand why he might have been passed over in the attention and all that business. But he has good offers from teams that throw the ball. I'm glad we let him hang out with our Huskers from Texas so he could hear firsthand how great our university is. He wants to play in a stadium that holds more than some pro-stadiums, in front of 80+ thousand husker fanatics. There is something special about that...

[HSKRNOKC]

WHat does he lack that so little attention has been shown?

Other than the location issue listed above , I dont know. He has solid numbers in (I beleive) Texas 5A division. So he hasnt played slack competition. 2005: 56 receptions, 927 yards, 12 touchdowns.

[WillHenry]

This is me, and yes i am glad to be apart of the husker nation, the reason i wasnt so highly recruited outta highschool is because first of all, elpaso football use to really suck ,so people never really looked her for talent, but now its somewhat on a rise, we never had teams ever go far in the playoffs untill recently in teh last couple of years. my sophomore year i was on varsity and we had a run oriented offese,we ended up 1-9, and i had like 2 catches all year for 45 yards, we had a new coach come in and we had to change EVERYTHING around, so it was a big adjustment, my senior year we started to get everything rollin, and i had a junior qb come in and start wit no varsity experience, we ended up 5-5. i ended up wit 920 yards 50 catches and 13 tds, but its still elpaso so i wasnt gonna get noticed much. so i had to send out tapes, and sure enough, ima Husker. Halla

[hootin' annie's goatfarm]

hello, well will henry you joined NU & huskerboard on the same day, congraduations!

 

One thing that has to be intruguing to you is the fact that there are many receiving records that are there to be broken at NU (especially w/ this wco) - nothing like placing your name in the record books, like fr nate swift did this last yr.

[SouthDakotaHusker]

Welcome Mr. Henry

 

We are very, very excited to have you aboard!!!!!!

 

Unlike in Texas, give you one year at Nebraska, and ANYWHERE in Nebraska you go everyone will know who you are and kids will be lining up to get you autograph.

 

Welcome to the family!

[benjibean1]

Will,

 

I look forward to seeing you dawn the Husker Red. We look forward to all the good work you are going to do for our team.

 

Congrats on being N.

[Eric the Red]

Hanks receiver commits to University of Nebraska

 

Lenny Jurado

El Paso Times

Monday, January 16, 2006

 

Hanks High School senior Will Henry verbally committed Sunday to playing football for the University of Nebraska, a Division 1 program led by a former NFL head coach.

 

Henry, a 6-foot-5, 195-pound all-state wide receiver, made the decision during his campus visit this weekend in Lincoln, Nebraska.

 

"It went really well. I got to meet coach (Bill) Callahan and saw all the amazing facilities they have. I also liked their academic tradition -- they lead the nation in academic All-Americans. Nebraska has a lot of upside," said Henry who academically ranks among the top 20 percent of his graduating class.

 

The Cornhuskers beat out schools like Missouri, Baylor, Texas State, Stanford and UTEP in the sweepstakes for El Paso's No. 1 wide receiver.

 

"I was already impressed before I went up there," Henry said. "I wanted to come back home knowing exactly where I wanted to go, and they did just that. They made me feel like I was at home. It seems like a great place to play."

 

Knights head coach Jeff Cleveland thinks Henry will be a perfect fit for Callahan, a former head coach for the Oakland Raiders, and the Cornhuskers.

 

"Obviously, he's a great, great addition to their program," Cleveland said. "He's what they're looking for in the West Coast offense. He's been exposed to that here at Hanks, and hopefully he can continue his success in college."

 

This past season Henry impressed, catching 52 passes for 917 yards and 12 touchdowns. His longest catch was for 88 yards.

 

Such production makes Henry very deserving of playing for a D1 program, Cleveland said.

 

"I've had a lot of kids over the years who were fortunate enough to play D1 football, and I'm just thrilled for Will and for El Paso and for Hanks."

 

Lenny Jurado may be reached at ljurado@elpasotimes.com; 546-6167.

[Eric the Red]

LJS

 

Wide receiver Will Henry thrived in an offense that his coach said is probably more complicated than systems used by most high school teams. At J.M. Hanks High in El Paso, Texas, head coach Jeff Cleveland teaches a no-huddle spread attack that frequently puts the quarterback in a shotgun formation and utilizes four wideouts. Plays are called from the sideline with hand signals, words and numbers. The offense’s complexity should help Henry next season during his transition to Nebraska’s intricate West Coast attack.

 

“I’m telling you, this guy is light years ahead of most high school kids in terms of understanding the passing game,” Cleveland said.

 

The 6-foot-6, 195-pound Henry on Sunday gave Nebraska a verbal commitment to accept a scholarship offer, turning down offers from Texas-El Paso, Texas Tech, Missouri and New Mexico State. Baylor and Stanford also were making late pushes.

 

Henry said he had planned a recruiting visit next week to Texas Tech.

 

“I’m going to cancel it,” he said.

 

Nebraska wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore played the lead role in Henry’s recruitment, though the entire Husker staff impressed him.

 

“The main thing that drew me to Nebraska was the coaches,” Henry said. “A lot of them could become head coaches someday.”

 

Henry recorded 56 receptions for 927 yards and 12 touchdowns as J.M. Hanks finished with a 5-5 record this past season. Although he has run a 4.46-second 40-yard dash, he received only a one-star ranking from Scout.com (out of a possible five) and a two-star rating from Rivals.com.

 

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“I know that everybody looks at Rivals.com and Scout.com,” Cleveland said. “But these coaches — Bill Callahan (of Nebraska), Mike Leach (of Texas Tech), Mike Price (of Texas-El Paso) and Hal Mumme (of New Mexico State) — know the game. They don’t need to look at Rivals.com and Scout.com to know when they need to recruit a kid.”

 

The fact El Paso is somewhat off the recruiting radar screen in Texas led to Henry’s low rankings by the recruiting Web sites, Cleveland said.

 

It’s been suggested that Henry is a “raw talent,” in need of further development before being ready to contribute at the Division I-A level.

 

“I wouldn’t term him as ‘raw,’ ” Cleveland said. “I would term him as a guy with a tremendous amount of upside. Will Henry will go to the University of Nebraska and bust his butt every day. He’ll go to class, he’ll become a great member of your community, and he’ll become a stud (on the field).”

 

Henry, an A-minus student, becomes the third wide receiver known to have pledged to Nebraska’s 2006 scholarship class, joining 6-3, 210-pound Menelik Holt of San Diego and 6-4, 210-pound Maurice Purify, a transfer from City College of San Francisco. All three are expected to join the team this summer.

 

Tyrell Spain, a 6-3, 190-pound wideout from San Diego, has enrolled in classes at Nebraska this semester and will participate in spring drills after attending Southeast Community College in Lincoln this past fall to gain eligibility. He originally signed with NU a year ago out of Mesa (Calif.) College.

 

Nebraska will have several experienced wide receivers on its 2006 roster, including Nate Swift (45 receptions for 641 yards in 2005), Terrence Nunn (43-495), Grant Mulkey (26-271), Frantz Hardy (25-349) and Todd Peterson (9-150).

 

Henry will fit in well at Nebraska, said Cleveland, who during a decade as an assistant high school coach in the Dallas-Fort Worth area helped develop no fewer than 12 eventual Division I-A players.

 

“People ask me, ‘Is there a downside to Will?’ ” Cleveland said. “I don’t know if there is.”

 

Henry is the 22nd player overall known to have joined Nebraska’s class of 2006. The Huskers could add up to three or four more commitments considering some players won’t qualify academically or receive scholarships immediately.

 

Briefly

 

Nebraska picked up stiff competition this week in its bid to land Garrett Green, a 6-2, 190-pound quarterback from Sherman Oaks, Calif. Southern California on Thursday extended a scholarship offer to Green, who visited the Los Angeles campus this past weekend. He’s also considering offers from Texas A&M and UCLA.

[Eric the Red]

OWH

 

It's easy, if you study the results of this recruiting season, to almost see inside Bill Callahan's head as the third-year Nebraska coach crafts a vision for his future offensive lineup.

 

Fast, rangy receivers fill the field, often in four- or five-man sets. Footballs fly everywhere. The Huskers physically manhandle defensive backs.

 

Mark another objective on the journey to configuring that picture as filled. NU snagged an oral commitment over the weekend from 6-foot-6, 195-pound wide receiver Will Henry of El Paso, Texas. A senior at Hanks High School, Henry is the latest recruit at a position clearly targeted by Nebraska as an area of importance.

 

"I'll use my size," Henry said Sunday. "Whatever it takes to get the ball, I'll do it."

 

The 22nd member of the Huskers' 2006 recruiting class, Henry joins 6-4 Menelik Holt, 6-5 Maurice Purify and 6-5 Pierre Allen as sizeable, future NU pass-catching targets. Nebraska also adds 6-3 Tyrell Spain, a recruit from last season who enrolled in school this month, and awaits the return from injury of its All-Big 12 tight end, 6-5 Matt Herian.

 

Together, they figure to bring an entirely new look to a corps of receivers that flourished in the second half of last season upon the emergence of underclassmen Nate Swift and Terrence Nunn.

 

Henry visited Lincoln last weekend for an official recruiting trip and committed Saturday during a conversation with Callahan.

 

He caught 58 passes for 920 yards and 12 touchdowns last fall in an offensive system similar to Callahan's at Nebraska. Hanks coach Jeff Cleveland overhauled the scheme at his school two years ago, scrapping a run-based attack in favor of a no-huddle, passing system.

 

"It was like teaching a foreign language to those kids," Cleveland said.

 

Sound familiar?

 

Henry said he felt comfortable in Lincoln, hearing about the Huskers' recent offensive transition. The first Texan in this recruiting class, he spent time with Nunn and I-back Cody Glenn. Henry also got to know receivers coach Ted Gilmore.

 

"The whole trip overall was a good experience," he said. "The thing that impressed me most was that Nebraska is just as high on academics as they are on football. Plus, they've got a whole bunch of (assistant) coaches who could be head coaches."

 

Nebraska noticed Henry late in the recruiting process, but it quickly made up ground. Gilmore visited El Paso last month to gather film. A scholarship offer followed soon. Henry picked the Huskers over Missouri, Texas Tech, Baylor and Texas El-Paso.

 

Rivals.com ranks Henry as a two-star prospect. Cleveland attributes the relatively low level of attention directed toward Henry to their remote location.

 

"We're out here in west Texas, and really most people don't think we're in Texas," the coach said. "I just don't think most schools recruit here. And they should, because of a kid like Will. He can run and jump. He's learning to control his body. He's disciplined. He goes after the football, and he works hard.

 

"In my opinion, Will is the whole package."

 

Henry will sign a letter of intent Feb. 1. The Huskers likely have room to accept no more than about three commitments over the next 21/2 weeks.