Hudson Henry among top Arkansas 2019 targets visiting campus Saturday

Pulaski Academy receiver Hudson Henry (left) fights off a hit by Bossier City Parkway defensive back Arthur Joseph during Friday night's game at Joe B. Hatcher stadium in Little Rock. Special to the Democrat-Gazette/JIMMY JONES

— Pulaski Academy junior tight end Hudson Henry, one of the nation’s best high school tight ends and a top 50 prospect nationally, is taking an unofficial visit to a familiar place on Saturday.

Henry (6-5, 225) is one of a horde of talented 2019 prospects set to visit Arkansas - a place his older brother Hunter starred as a tight end and his other brother Hayden is a current linebacker.

“I think a big thing is getting to meet some of these other prospects and share some of our experiences,” Henry said on Richard Davenport’s Recruiting Thursday radio show. “…I know a lot of these guys are Arkansas guys so I just want to be able to get to know them.

“Getting to meet the (entire) new staff will be amazing. I guess that is a few things that I am looking forward to.”

Hayden Henry, a linebacker who blue-shirted last season and went on scholarship in early December, had been telling his brother about new head coach Chad Morris and his staff.

“Man, he loves them,” Henry said. “He loves the philosophy that Coach Morris brings and his drive and energy. He really enjoys it and is just working his butt off up there.”

Henry, who had 72 catches for 984 yards and 10 touchdowns last season, is rated by ESPN as a four-star prospect, the nation’s second-best tight end and the 50th-best prospect nationally in the class.

With offers this week from Southern Cal and Nebraska, he has topped the 20 offer threshold.

“I believe it is 20 or 21,” Henry said. “Every now and then a school will text me and ask me to call and I will try to get on the phone. I just try to talk to them and grow relationships, but around this time of year it is kind of hard because I have school and football and l try to balance it all out with all this recruiting.”

He is planning to narrow his list in the coming months.

“I definitely want to do some more research on a lot of these schools and really narrow it down,” Henry said. “I want to see which ones are really going to use the tight end and what schools have proven that they are going to use the tight end.

“I’ll then narrow down my list and take some unofficials this spring and summer. Hopefully I can narrow my list down to three or four, five at the most schools to visit in the fall and really get a feel for the programs and the fans.”

It is certainly different for Hudson now that Hunter and Hayden are no longer in the house.

“I would say that the one word is quiet,” Henry said. “Usually when they were home there was a lot of rambunctious noise, a lot of arguing and fighting, but it is all out of love.

“Sometimes we would wrestle just to get out the testosterone out. I would just say it has been very quiet, but I get to talk to them a lot.”

Henry, whose dad Mark is a former All-Southwest Conference offensive lineman for Arkansas, and his mom Jenny visited Michigan, Notre Dame and Wisconsin in January.

“It was amazing, just amazing,” Henry said. “It was just a great trip. We just had a great time. I was so blessed to be able to go visit those schools. All the programs were great and it was just a great trip for me and my mom to be able to go up there.”

Henry, a very faith-based young man, is interested in traveling abroad to study.

“I think one of the things is that all three of those schools have a study abroad program so they let their players go and visit and study around the world,” Henry said. “I thought that was really cool because I am a big academic guy. Being able to do that would be very, very cool. I’d say that was one of the big things that was awesome.

“But also all the facilities were all-world and all the coaches were great so it is just hard to pinpoint what was the best, but they were all amazing.”

He has one place picked out he would love to visit.

“I would love to go someplace to study like Israel and walk where Jesus walked and just kind of learn because I am a big writer,” Henry said. “Hopefully down the road I can go visit, and hopefully they have some type of writing school there. I think that would be really cool because I would get to experience my faith in such a real way. It just blows my mind that I may be able to go there one day.”

Henry notes he is trying to stay humble during the recruiting process.

“I try to look at this as it is not the only thing that I have to look forward to,” Henry said. “I keep my eyes on heaven and eyes on my Lord, and he is so powerful that he is going to work everything out for my good. I just know whatever is going to happen is his plan.”