Michigan Thursday: Should Seantrel Henderson Reconsider Michigan?

As many of you know, Seantrel Henderson is regarded as the No. 1 recruit in the nation by some recruiting services waited to sign to his LOI to USC. The reason for the delay was to find out if USC had an idea what the NCAA penalties might look like. After waiting a number of weeks after signing day, the USC coaching staff convinced the young man to sign on the dotted line. The USC coaches clearly "under-sold" the severity of the charges and penalties that they were facing as the NCAA came down hard on the program just a few weeks ago. 

To update this story this week, Seantrel was a no show on the first day for freshman recruits to report. Lane Kiffin and staff even flew out to Minneapolis this week to try to convince him to stick with USC. At this point, we really don't know what Seantrel is thinking. His father won't even go on the record. But it seems pretty clear he is having second thoughts about USC. 

So there are a number of things to consider with the headline I wrote. Let's try to consider all the angles.

Should USC let him out of his LOI?  Yes, probably, but they don't have to, which could cause him to go to a JUCO or Prep School.  He could also redhshirt at another BCS School.

He could stay with USC and maybe have the chance to go to one or two bowl games. The thinking is that USC will appeal which could push the penalties out a year.

Michigan wasn't even in his top group when he picked USC—this is true. But Seantrel did visit Ann Arbor last summer and had a great time, and Michigan was near the top of his list for most of the summer 2009. Michigan has a need for Offensive Lineman and with the loss of two 2010 recruits due to academics they have a scholarship available for him. Michigan is also a short plane ride from his home town. 

Why would Seantrel go to another school that hasn't heard back from the NCAA yet? 

This is a valid point and probably will hurt Michigan's chances. Even though "Stretching Gate" in nowhere near as serious as "Reggie Gate" with Michigan expected to only have some loss of practice time and the loss of some administration duties, I am sure Seantrel's camp would be concerned they are walking into a similar situation if they decided to come to Michigan.

So who knows what the young man is thinking. He could be headed to Miami or even Ohio State. Anywhere program would try to find a way to fit this young man in.  Good luck to him with this difficult decision.

• How many times have we seen highlights of Boubacar getting beat by Golden Tate at the Big House last year.  I must have seen that 50 times during the NFL draft and the weeks leading up to it.  I'm sure now he wishes that was his biggest program.  He was thrown off the team during the 2009 season and has continued to find  his way into a lot of trouble since then.  Boubacar Cissoko is now facing up to 45 years in prison after pleading guilty to a number of robbery charges.  What a sad story for a former 5 star prospect out of Cass Tech in Detroit. 

• Doran Grant and Anthony Zettell both are planning to be in Ann Arbor on U of M's Campus today.