Five-star wide receiver recruit Chris Henry Jr. is sticking with his commitment to Ohio State.
What was expected to be a drama-free signing day for the Buckeyes on Wednesday turned drastically after South Florida announced it hired Ohio State offensive coordinator and receivers coach Brian Hartline as its next head coach. That delayed the signings of Henry and four-star receiver Jerquaden Guilford.
Guilford signed with Ohio State on Thursday, and Henry announced his final decision on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Friday, after originally verbally committing to the Buckeyes in July 2023.
He picked Ohio State over Oregon, USC and West Virginia. Ohio State now has 27 commits in a Class of 2026 that ranks No. 6 in the 247Sports Composite. Henry is ranked No. 10 overall and No. 1 among wide receivers.
What does this mean for Ohio State?
The Buckeyes aren’t new to schools pursuing their receivers all the way down to the last moment. Miami pushed hard for five-star recruit Jeremiah Smith before he eventually chose the Buckeyes in the 2024 class.
Henry, much like Smith, was a must-have. Henry, whose father is the late Chris Henry Sr., a former player for the Cincinnati Bengals, has been locked in with Ohio State for over two years. But when he transferred from Withrow High School in Cincinnati to Mater Dei in California, it opened up more opportunities for the West Coast schools to see him. USC and Oregon were at the top of that list. The Trojans even flipped Henry’s teammate, four-star Kayden Dixon-Wyatt, from Ohio State.
Henry was the focal point of the recruiting class when Hartline was at Ohio State, but with him gone, not only did Henry have to consider his position coach leaving, but also the play caller. Henry developed a good relationship with Oregon receivers coach Ross Douglas, but the Buckeyes held strong.
His announcement puts to bed what could’ve been a nightmare scenario for the Buckeyes. Ohio State ended Wednesday with just two receiver signings: three-star recruits Jaeden Ricketts and Brock Boyd. Ohio State is high on Boyd, as general manager Mark Pantoni said he thinks Boyd is one of the most underrated receivers in the class.
Still, Ohio State not only needed more depth, but immediate-impact players, as well. This year the drop-off when Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate was rough, as walk-on David Adolph played major snaps against Rutgers instead of five-star redshirt freshman Mylan Graham. That game heightened the importance of locking down Henry.
It forced Day, who is preparing for the Big Ten Championship Game against Indiana, to bring all hands on deck in the final hours of Henry’s recruitment. Smith tweeted at the 6-foot-5 receiver on Wednesday night and the conversations continued in the following days.
Now Ohio State can rest easy that it has another five-star receiver, keeping him from flipping to Oregon, who has become a recruiting rival for the Buckeyes. Two years ago, Oregon coach Dan Lanning landed four-star Jeremiah McClellan in a last-minute flip from the Buckeyes.
