National Signing Day 2017: Miami CB Chris Henderson commits to Gators

Miami cornerback Chris Henderson committed to the Florida Gators on National Signing Day 2017 in an announcement on Periscope, choosing them over Miami and Alabama after a wild final week of recruitment.

Henderson choosing Florida came as somewhat of a surprise. The Miami-based CB was once committed to the University of Miami but decommitted in October, shortly after unofficially visiting UF. It was believed then that Henderson’s decommitment may have been due to growing interest in the Gators, and for months, he was regarded as a Florida lean.

But Henderson had been increasingly considered a Miami lean in recent weeks, with most outlets reporting that he was trending towards recommitting to the hometown Hurricanes even after Henderson was part of the group to officially visit Florida on January 20 — a group which contained six Gator commits and four undecided recruits, three of whom had since pledged to the Gators entering Wednesday.

The Gators never stopped recruiting Henderson, however, and that effort paid off on National Signing Day, as he completed the clean sweep of uncommitted official visitors that weekend.

Henderson is a four-star Under Armour All-American player. He is 6’1”, 175 pounds, and rated as the No. 15 cornerback nationally by 247Sports.

And he looks like it on his highlight tape.

Henderson is the fourth cornerback in Florida’s 2017 class, joining Marco Wilson, Shawn Davis, and Brad Stewart — who played cornerback in high school but may profile as a safety at Florida.

Henderson’s commitment gives the Gators 21 players in their 2017 recruiting class and will boost Florida’s class ranking, possibly to the low teens.