Chris Henry Jr., High 2026 Recruit, Chooses Ohio State

5-star large receiver Chris Henry Jr. affirmed his dedication to Ohio State on Friday and can signal with the Buckeyes through the early signing interval, concluding a dramatic recruiting saga for the No. 7 general prospect within the SC NEXT 300.

Henry, a 6-foot-5, 205-pound large receiver from California energy Mater Dei Excessive Faculty, is ESPN’s No. 1 large receiver in 2026. Sources stated Henry’s camp held talks with a number of applications this week, together with Ohio State, Oregon, Texas and LSU, earlier than he introduced his intention to signal with the Buckeyes throughout an look on “The Pat McAfee Present” on Friday.

“For me, it was actually simply being at a spot the place I really feel comfy,” Henry advised McAfee. “It was by no means actually in regards to the cash. I used to be getting tons of presents [from] different locations … however in the end for me, it was only a place I really feel comfy being developed and in the end reaching my objective, which is to be a first-round draft decide.”

Henry is the son of the late Cincinnati Bengals large receiver Chris Henry, who performed at West Virginia from 2002 to 2004. The youthful Henry will signal with Ohio State because the top-ranked member of a Buckeyes class that started Friday at No. 9 in ESPN’s class rankings for the cycle.

Dedicated to Ohio State since July 29, 2023, Henry entered this week’s early signing interval because the longest-tenured verbal pledge within the ESPN 300, holding on regardless of flip efforts from Miami, Oregon, USC and West Virginia, amongst others, throughout his junior and senior highschool seasons.

Oregon remained probably the most persistent non-Ohio State program in Henry’s course of, sources advised ESPN, with the Geese making use of stress all the way in which into the early signing interval. Nevertheless, Henry persistently affirmed his pledge to the Buckeyes over the previous two-plus years, throughout which he developed an in depth relationship with large receivers coach and offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, who was named the top coach at South Florida earlier this week.

Sources stated Henry was unsettled Wednesday morning upon studying of Hartline’s impending departure from the Buckeyes. Henry nonetheless acknowledged his intention to signal with Ohio State throughout a ceremony at Mater Dei on Wednesday, however he by no means submitted official paperwork to this system.

In a social media submit Wednesday afternoon, Henry stated he had not but signed his letter of intent and was “nonetheless attempting to weigh” his choices “resulting from teaching modifications.”

Whereas LSU and Texas additionally offered vital monetary presents, sources advised ESPN that Ohio State and Oregon had been the 2 applications most prominently concerned within the late phases of Henry’s determination this week.

Henry and his representatives maintained constant communication with each the Buckeyes and Geese throughout Wednesday and Thursday, sources stated. Regardless of a heavy push from Oregon, led by coach Dan Lanning, Henry in the end held agency on his pledge to Ohio State.

A number of conversations with Buckeyes coach Ryan Day over the previous 48 hours, together with a Thursday night time cellphone name, helped sway Henry’s last determination, sources advised ESPN.

Henry rose to nationwide stardom as a sophomore at Ohio’s Withrow College Excessive Faculty in 2023, setting faculty data with 1,127 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns on 71 receptions. He transferred to Mater Dei in 2024 and missed the vast majority of his junior season with a knee harm earlier than returning to finish his senior marketing campaign this fall.

He’ll signal with the Buckeyes as this system’s first No. 1 large receiver addition since Julian Fleming within the 2020 class. Within the wake of four-star go catcher Kayden Dixon-Wyatt‘s flip to USC on Wednesday, Jerquaden Guilford (No. 199 general) stands alongside Henry as the one different top-300 large receiver set to hitch Ohio State in 2026.