Top 2019 tight end Hudson Henry was amazed by Stanford visit

Stanford offered 2019 four star tight end Hudson Henry almost a year ago, identifying him as the Cardinal's clear No. 1 target at the position, and he made his long awaited first trip to The Farm Friday.

He spent two days on campus and by Thursday he was starting to wrap his mind around the experience.

"I’ve noticed it more now that I’ve gone away and thought about it, (Stanford) is just really special," he said. "The coaches are just amazing. They’re men of integrity and honor. Those are the kind guys who I would want to be able to coach me. They are men who will lead me the way that it’s meant to be a man.

"The campus is just beautiful. Obviously the academics speak for themselves. They’re amazing and world class. Just in total it was an unbelievable visit."

Henry is Rivals' top ranked tight end and the Pulaski Academy (Little Rock, Ark.) athlete has offers from throughout the country.

The Henry family has a long tradition of sending athletes to play at Arkansas.

His oldest brother Hunter was a standout tight end there and his brother Hayden is a linebacker for the Razorbacks. His father, Mark, played football from 1988-91 and his grandfather, Skip Coffman, played basketball at Arkansas.

He has plenty of sources of advice for how to handle the recruiting process and has taken enough visits to compare the experiences to each other.

"Most visits, they kind of all start looking the same, I guess, in terms of what you’re doing and the kinds of people you meet," he said. "But Stanford just really stuck out to me. And I’m not sure the reason why, it was just really special and I think mainly it was the way they run their program.

"They’re not trying to just get the top recruiting class (every year), they want guys who are going to be first of all great men, and great students, and then great football players. Those are the three things I look for in a school and how they’re going to develop me. I think that really stuck out to me compared to all the other schools I have been to."

Stanford tight end coach Morgan Turner has been Henry's main contact since he was offered March 25 of last year. The visit offered the first opportunity for extensive in-person conversations with Turner and other coaches.

He attended a tight end position meeting Friday and took in the practice Saturday.

"I was really able to get a first-hand view, and I obviously knew that Stanford uses the tight end, but I got to see more in-depth of what they do," he said. "I was really impressed. And seeing them teach it and then do it solidified what I thought about Stanford and how they use the tight end."

Henry also took advantage of opportunities to get to know head coach David Shaw and offensive coordinator Tavita Pritchard.

"I really enjoyed getting to meet all of them. Coach Shaw is obviously a great man. I got to sit down with him a couple times and talk to him. I really enjoyed those conversations. I also got to sit down with Coach Pritchard … and getting to meet all those guys was really, really fun. I really connected well with all of them."

Henry is a serious student with a 4.1 GPA and, like many recruits who visit Stanford, he really enjoyed talking with professors on Saturday.

"It was unbelievable," he said. "I got to sit down with guys who are experts in their fields. Getting to sit down with them and talk about their lives … all the professors there are amazing. It blows my mind that if I went there I would be getting this kind of education from this kind of school. Having that kind of network is amazing."

Henry visited with his mother, Jenny, and before the visit he admitted that distance from home was on their mind. Henry said it was "kind of a big factor" but it was "minimized a little bit" afterward.

"They (my parents) know I would be in good hands and that I’d be getting the best education while playing for a top-tier program in the country (if I went to Stanford)," Henry said. "And I would be developed as a man by these great coaches. I think they wouldn’t worry as much if it was Stanford."

Henry wants to narrow his list of schools to three or four by the summer, revisit those schools in the fall and then make a decision sometime after those trips. Arkansas, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Penn State are other schools that stand out to Henry.

"I would say Stanford is in that top three or four, for sure," he said.