Despite trending towards Ole Miss in the days leading up to his Signing Day decision, Memphis University School 3-star offensive tackle Marcus Henderson picked the Hogs on Wednesday morning instead of the Rebels.
The Razorbacks recruited Marcus Henderson under Chad Morris and initially extended his offer in May of 2018. The Tennessee native made the trip to Fayetteville several times unofficially but wound up narrowing his focus to other programs. It wasn't until Brad Davis and Sam Pittman were hired at Arkansas that Henderson started taking a hard look at the program again.
Davis recruited Henderson to Missouri and even got him in for an official visit before the end of the 2019 season.
"You know he’s a crazy dude," Henderson said. "Same person, different colors on. You can't go wrong with him either obviously. He’s one of the best in the business."
As for Pittman, his reputation speaks for itself.
"He was a good coach (at Georgia)," Henderson said. "Obviously, he’s a player’s coach. Everybody wants to play for him so I think he’s going to do some good things in Fayetteville and turn this program around."
Henderson holds offers from 21 programs including 13 of 14 SEC schools. His recruitment came down to Ole Miss, Arkansas and Georgia but Henderson decided to skip his final official visit to Athens this past weekend. He last visited Arkansas ahead of the early signing period and visited Ole Miss on January 17.
"I feel like anywhere you go other than the LSU’s, Bama and Clemson you have to rebuild because those schools are just powerhouses every year. But if you come to somewhere else in the SEC West you might have to rebuild to beat those teams."
While Arkansas is recruiting Henderson as a traditional offensive guard, there's also the possibility of him playing defensive tackle, defensive end, or maybe even tight end in certain situations given Arkansas's lack of depth at the position.
At 6-foot-4, 290-pounds, Henderson has a great frame and displays above average strength in his tape. He's not ranked nationally but he's a top-30 player coming out of Tennessee. He's Arkansas's third signee from Memphis, joining athlete Darin Turner and offensive lineman Ray Curry.
Henderson moves Arkansas's 2020 class to 18 signees (19 commits) and three grad transfers. He also adds 75 points to Arkansas's team recruiting score, moving them to No.45 in the nation, tied with Kansas State.
There are still a couple more announcements coming this afternoon, so stay locked on HawgBeat. Sam Pittman will recap Signing Day with the media at 3 p.m. CT.
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