On Wednesday, the nation will find out the chosen college for this year's number one recruit, Seantrel Henderson of Minnesota.

And, like most college football fans, we're hoping he ends up playing for our favorite squadron.

But for many, Wednesday's announcement on CBS will be the first time they've heard of this young man. Given that he's not from a flashy program and doesn't play a position that makes for easy highlight reels, it might be hard for any but the truest recruiting junkies to have a full understanding of what makes Seantrel so special.

So, we're here to help. You can thank us later.

The basics:

Seantrel Henderson is a senior offensive lineman at Cretin-Durham Hall High School in St. Paul Minnesota (alma mater of Chris Wenke and Joe Mauer). He is 6 foot, 8 inches tall, and has measured in at over 330 pounds. While that is certainly distinctive, what sets Henderson apart in the eyes of scouts and coaches is his ability to move; his agility is surprising for a student athlete of his size. Seantrel's prowess on the hardwood is a testament to his superior footwork and mobility. He has been described as a student of the game, an intelligent player who adjusts well to what the defense is throwing at him.

He has only given up one sack in his career, and has been timed at a sub 4.9 second forty yard dash. This season, the Raiders won the 5A championship for the state of Minnesota.

Scouting experts have ranked him as the number one player in America since his sophomore year; he has started on offense since that time. In an article in Sports Illustrated, Henderson is described as "the most polished lineman of the past decade."

Yeah, Henderson is kinda a big deal.

After the jump, an in depth look at Seantrel's recruiting journey, what he could bring to Ohio State, and if you're lucky we'll even make some predictions about where he will end up when the sun sets on Wednesday.

Over his career, Henderson has amassed a number of accolades, including:

At the Army Game, there were initial concerns that Henderson would not live up to expectations. He struggled, according to reports, against the speed of some of the elite rushers from around the country. However, as the week continued Seantrel proved time and time again that he was a young man in an NFL lineman's frame. Rival's team remarked-

As the week progressed, he didn't give an inch in the pass game and the West usually found success in the run game behind his strong left side. He is just plain scary blocking defenders on the second level.

At the end of the weeks' events, Henderson still hadn't chosen to make an announcement regarding his recruitment process, although he did say that he was ready for it to all be over. And, given what he's been through, who can blame him?.

Recruiting Journey

For a talent like Henderson, the recruiting journey began quite early in his High School career.

As far back as November and December of 2007 (the end of his sophomore season), Seantrel began receiving major interest from some of the most prestigious college football powers in the country. By the end of December, Seantrel had official offers from Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota.

The local programs had taken notice of Seantrel early, and it wouldn't take long for the rest of the country to throw their hats in the ring as well.

Our very own Jim Tressel made an official visit to Henderson's high school in Janurary of 2008. Henderson had another major event that month... he turned 16 years old.

It should also be noted that at this point in the recruiting process, Seantrel was still contemplating playing basketball and football in college. Have we mentioned that his footwork and agility is tremendous for someone his size?

In December of 2008, Seantrel narrowed the schools he would be focusing on to Oklahoma, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Florida, Ohio State and Wisconsin, noting that only Minnesota (the home state school) would be guaranteed a spot in his top five.

Here are some junior highlights of Seantrel for your viewing pleasure:

The summer of 2009 (the summer between Seantrel's junior and senior year of high school) must have been a crazy one for young Mr. Henderson with visits, camps, and interviews on the schedule seemingly every week.

In April, Southern California extended an official offer and became a serious player in the recruiting process. Also by April, Henderson had made unofficial visits to Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

At the same time, representatives from UCLA, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State and Georgia all made trips to Seantrel's high school.

Did we mention that it was a crazy summer for Henderson? At the end of May, Henderson discussed the recruiting process in the video seen here. 

In July, Henderson announced he would be officially visiting Ohio State, Oklahoma, Southern California, Florida and another school to be named later, possibly Florida State, later changed to Notre Dame.

Here's an article and video about Henderson from August. According to the article, Henderson received his first scholarship offers from Notre Dame and Minnesota when he was in 9th grade.

Henderson made his official visit to Ohio State on September 12th, which, as you may recall, was the day that Ohio State played USC. While things on the field did not go quite as well as planned, by most accounts Seantrel really enjoyed his visit to Columbus and had many positive things to say about the experience afterwards. In this clip, you get an up close view of his experiences, including his conversation with President Gee and Coach Tressel:

Over the next several weeks rumors swirled and more official visits were taken. Various teams were rumored to be in the lead at various times. Snoop Dogg even made an appearance as USC apparently pulled out all of the stops to try and impress Henderson on his official visit.

Many observers pointed to the fact that Seantrel chose three USC games for official visits- Ohio State, Notre Dame, and (of course) his visit to the Trojans. Many felt like this was a sign that USC was at the top of Henderson's list. Others (like us) would point that his trip to California may have backfired; during the loss to Arizona, Henderson was rumored to have commented "I really didn't enjoy the empty seats and the booing after the game". Again, only rumors, but still...

In December, lots and lots of coaches had their in-home visits with Henderson. Florida, Iowa, Miami, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Southern Cal coaches all stopped by the Henderson household.

Speaking of the Henderson household, Seantrel's parents are obvious anchors in his life; Bree Jasper and Sean Henderson have done an excellent job throughout the process. While Sean claims that the decision will be Seantrel's alone, Bree and Sean have clearly done a great job raising their son and the entire family has handled the recruiting circus with class and patience (they apparently get 10-30 calls related to recruiting every day).

In early January, Henderson played in the Army All-American bowl (see above). While the coaching carousel turned in regards to Florida's Urban Meyer, USC's Pete Carrol and Notre Dame's selection of Brian Kelly, all of whom have been active in attempting to sway Seantrel to their programs, Ohio State remained the one constant in the recruiting picture. This article (with video!) discuses the turmoil at Florida and USC and how it might impact Seantrel's decision on Wednesday.

And with that, I think we are about up to speed. At this point it seems like Ohio State, Notre Dame, and USC have been contenders from early on, with Florida making a late push.

"Fit" at Ohio State- Legacy and Opportunity

While we're looking at the tea leaves of the recruiting world, it's also important to think about how a choice to matriculate in Columbus would benefit both Henderson and the Buckeyes.

First, we are going to throw some names out there: Orlando Pace, Korey Stringer, John Hicks, Jim Lachey, Jim Parker, Bill Willis.

These six players have earned: 11 First Team All-American awards, 5 first round draft selections (Bill Willis played before he could have been drafted in the first round), 22 All-Pro seasons in the NFL, 8 Pro Bowls, 2 Super Bowl Championships, 3 Lombardi Awards, 3 Outland Trophies, 3 inductions into the College Football Hall of Fame, and 2 inductions into the Professional Football Hall of Fame (Orlando Pace pending).

Oh yeah, and a 2nd and 4th place finish on the Heisman Trophy ballot.

Pretty impressive, no? What is even more impressive is that they won all of that recognition playing one of the least glamorous positions in football... the offensive line. Another thing that they all have in common? They all played college ball at The Ohio State University.

What's the point? Simply that Ohio State has a history of great offensive line play. From Willis in the 40's, Parker in the 50's, Hicks in the 70's, Lachey in the 80's, and Pace and Stringer in the 90's, Ohio State has produced an outstanding lineman in nearly every decade since modern football has been played.

There is little doubt that Ohio State has a rich and storied tradition of great, dare I say legendary? offensive lineman.

That being said, ever since Orlando Pace was drafted #1 overall in the 1997 NFL draft, Ohio State fans have been asking; who will be the next great lineman at Ohio State? And while it may be unfair to compare every incoming lineman to the greatest offensive tackle to ever play the game, the question will always be, is this the next Orlando Pace?

Needless to say, Orlando set the bar pretty damn high here at Ohio State.

There have been several contenders for the title of "the next Orlando Pace" since I have been following recruiting. First there was Alex Boone, who, uh... failed to live up to expectations. More recently there was Mike Adams, who many called the best lineman to come out of Ohio since Pace (many also said that about Boone too).

It was assumed that Adams would step in and start at left tackle this past year and live up to his reputation coming out of high school. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Adams never reached his "the next Orlando Pace" potential, and journey man Jim Cordle ended up playing LT for the last half of the year.

Once again, you might be asking the question, what does this all mean? Well, if you haven't figured it out by now, it means that Seantrel Henderson has a very real opportunity to come to Ohio State and be the starter at LT from the moment he steps on campus. Who was the last person to do that? If you guessed Orlando Pace you would be correct.

Although it's definitely not out of the question: Freshman Marcus Hall saw playing time at tackle in 2009, including time in the Rose Bowl. During the 2008 season, Mike Brewster earned the starting center position during his freshman year; Coach Tressel has proved that he wants the best players on the field.

Is it expecting too much of a kid who hasn't even graduated from high school yet to be the next Orlando Pace? Yes. Especially considering the last two players that came in with this level of expectations failed to meet them (even though Adams is only a Junior, so he still has some time to turn things around).

Also, we don't even know if Henderson will even be wearing scarlet and gray next year.

Despite this, the bottom line is that  if Henderson were to choose Ohio State on Wednesday, he would have the opportunity to become the starter from day one, and he would have the chance to add his name to the outstanding offensive line legacy at Ohio State.

Pretty exciting stuff.

Predictions

Jim- There have been numerous signs throughout the process that Henderson (and his parents) really likes Ohio State. The Buckeyes have been named the leader from time to time, with this being the most recent (and from a highly relevant source to boot).

So I am just going to list some of the things that Ohio State may have going for it in this whole thing.

• Henderson is from Minnesota and seems to embrace being from the midwest... meaning that weather shouldn't be a factor working against Ohio State for once.
• Ohio State has consistently been in the picture since the very beginning of this recruitment with no significant changes to the coaching staff over that time period... something that other top schools cannot say.
• Henderson's parents have been involved in the process and hopefully they have had an opportunity to recognize that Jim Tressel is much more than just a football coach.
• Henderson looked up to former Buckeye great Korey Stringer who played for the Vikings while Henderson was growing up.
• The staff at Ohio State have told Henderson that he will have the opportunity to start immediately, something that he has said he can see himself doing.
• Henderson has reportedly said that he "feels at home" in Columbus.

You can never be certain about recruiting, as some have said, it is more of an art than a science. In this case, there are a lot of positive things that Ohio State has going for it, and in recruiting that is all you can ask for.

Ohio State has been at the top of Henderson's list since very early on, they have been rock solid in an off season that saw huge coaching changes at some of the other major schools on Seantrel's list, and Ohio State offers an opportunity to start immediately and join one of the premiere offensive line traditions in college football history.

Barring something major happening over the next several days, I say Henderson is a Buckeye.

Mali- To be honest, the Henderson family has handled this with such grace and poise that it's difficult to imagine where he might end up. They have really worked to ensure that Seantrel gets all the information he needs, and have respectfully stayed out of the negative recruiting that often dominates these conversations. He has received all of the attention with the same amount of maturity, and has responded to every opportunity in ways that are honorable to each person involved. It's been impressive to watch, even if only from a distance.

Personally, I think his decision will ultimately impacted by his desire for a program with coaching stability and a family atmosphere. I also think that geography will play a factor here; his family is important to him, and will want to come and support him as he plays. As such, it seems like Ohio State would be an easy choice, and given what we've heard recently Buckeye fans may have reason to celebrate on Wednesday.

However, I followed the same logic and rumblings into assumptions that Lamarcus Joyner and Sharif Floyd would be headed to Columbus in the fall... let's just say there's a reason I don't go to Vegas very often.

So, like the rest of the country, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed on Wednesday. But I wouldn't be too surprised if Seantrel decides, after looking everywhere he's looked and seeing everything he's seen, that he wants to "do that thing in Columbus."