By Nate Ray, Kentucky Ink Staff Writer    

April 18, 2009 
 

Scratch a name off Penn State's target list. Justin Henderson from Bamberg (S.C) Bamberg-Ehrhardt sounded like he could be on track to commit to Penn State when Nittany Network last checked in with the standout defensive end. Henderson had plans to attend the upcoming Blue-White Game.

Instead, Kentucky received their first commitment for the 2010 class. Henderson sat down with Kentucky Ink to discuss his decision.

Q: What put Kentucky on top?
A: Well, I have family up there.  Most of my offers are far away, so I think that having family somewhere is an important thing. I really got to know the coaching staff this weekend when I was up there for two days. I really like the coaches, so they make me feel like they’re going to take care of me and stuff. And the depth chart, I fit in good with the depth chart and they’re kind of running low on DE’s right now. As far as the facilities and the academics, I was very satisfied. I felt like that was the place I want to be.

Q: Was this your first visit to Kentucky?
A: Yes sir, it was. We came up on Friday and Saturday.

Q: Who was your recruiting coach?
A: Coach (Joker) Phillips is my recruiting coach so it made me feel really good when Coach (Rich) Brooks and I sat down and he said, ‘hey man, I love it that I’m recruiting you but I might not be here but one or two more years and Coach Phillips is going to take it over,' so having him as my recruiting coach and being the future head coach is a big deal to me because I really like Coach Phillips. 

Q: So having Joker in place as the next HC was a big deal?
A: Yeah, exactly. And all of the coaching staff will be remaining in place.  And I really like coach (Rick) Petri, the defensive line coach. We got to hang out a good bit and get to know each other. He just let me know that he loved me and wanted me to play there and liked what he saw on film and they were definitely going after me as a DE. They said they really wanted me there and I fit their defense. I really liked Petri as a coach and I got to watch him at practice and I felt really good about it.  I knew that’s where I wanted to go.

Q: What will you be working on for your senior season?
A: I need to work on staying a little bit lower and building some lower body strength, but other than that, I think I’m pretty good to go. I’m going to work on some drills that I saw them do in practice to get ready for that and Coach Phillips is going to give me some numbers of some players and I’m going to start calling them and start doing a little recruiting. 

Q: Are you still planning on graduating in December?
A: I’m 100 percent graduating in December. I’m going to get up there and learn the system, get stronger, put on some weight, and see what I can do in spring practice next year. 

Q: Was playing your freshman year important?
A: Well, that’s the thing. I want to maximize my four years. So if they said, 'hey you might not be able to play, you might redshirt your freshman year,' I’d be ok with redshirting my freshman year. That’s not a big deal to me. Actually it gives me more time to adjust and take care of some academic things and go on from there. I wouldn’t actually mind redshirting. 

Q: Are you more excited about getting to Lexington or a little sad about not getting to do some senior things like prom and graduating with your senior class?
A: Well, I have a girlfriend and we’ve been dating for three years and it’s a little tough leaving her behind.  We’re going to work things out and stay together and they said I can come back for prom and take her to prom. 

Q: What are some of your expectations for your senior season?
A: Well, we’ve lost two years in a row in the state championships to Chesterfield High School so they’ve grown as kind of a rival to us. I feel like we have a really good chance at a state championship this year. We should have won it probably the last three years but we’ve come up just a little bit short. Me and AJ Cann think we have a really good chance of putting this team together and leading them to a state championship.

Q: What do you think about playing in the SEC?
A: Oh man, that was my dream.  The SEC is where I wanted to play. I was actually headed up to Penn State this weekend and my dad said, ‘hey Justin, you always said you wanted to play in the SEC.'  I was supposed to make the trip to Kentucky in two weeks and Coach Phillips said he wasn’t going to be there.  So we had to change plans and I ended up going to Kentucky this weekend.  That could have been a life changing change of plans. 

Q: Do you plan on going back to Kentucky for their spring game?
A: I’m not actually going to be able to make it back for next weekend’s spring game, but I’m definitely planning on being up two times this summer and probably making it to three games at home and I’m going to go to the South Carolina game because that’s close to where I live as they play in Columbia.  So I’ll probably be at about four games and I’ll be up there twice this summer.

Q: What other schools did you have scholarship offers from?
A: Colorado, Tulsa, Texas A&M, Michigan State, Penn State, Duke, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and Appalachian State.

Q: Is there anything else you want to add?
A: I’m ready to be a Wildcat!