Budding star Chris Henry Jr. is already a priority target for Ohio State

CINCINNATI – Modern football recruiting has sped up over recent years and that is the case when it comes to class of 2026 wide receiver Chris Henry Jr. Most players at this age would be looking forward to maybe playing their first year of varsity football but for this Cincinnati Withrow star, offers are already in hand and several years of recruiting are ahead.

Of course, nobody should be surprised that the son of the late Chris Henry is a gifted athlete, checking in at 6-foot-5, 185-pounds but the sky is the limit here for the younger Henry as he gets ready to enter his sophomore season and continue to work on his game.

It also doesn’t hurt that Henry Jr. has so many direct ties to the National Football League and the Cincinnati Bengals. Henry Jr.’s legal guardian is former Bengal Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones. Henry Jr. has been around football his entire life and knows that he has access that most other players couldn’t even imagine.

“Not a lot of kids would be able to have these types of resources,” Henry Jr. said. “It is really good, it keeps me ahead of the game and to learn more from them because they have already been through the type of situations and they succeeded there and it just helps me a lot.”

Henry Jr. has developed a close friendship with receiver Tee Higgins, a player who would make a good player comp with both being tall and lanky wide outs.

The 2026 star already has close to 20 offers including one from Ohio State, a camp offer. As mentioned earlier, things are speeding up and the Buckeyes have close to a dozen 2026 offers already extended but Henry Jr. is the only in-state player with an offer in that class.

Earning the Ohio State offer was a big milestone for Henry.

“I was just hope to go there and learn as much as I could and hopefully get the offer,” Henry Jr. said. “That was a big school for me at the time and getting that offer, it really helped my confidence.”

Henry Jr. is well-aware of the current legacy of the Ohio State wide receiver room under new offensive coordinator Brian Hartline. It would be hard to bet against Hartline when it comes to most wide receiver recruitments but for an in-state receiver and Brian Hartline? Only time will tell but you have to like Ohio State’s chances here as time moves on.

“All of my visits (to Ohio State) felt like home,” Henry Jr. said. “I like it there and I like coach Hartline and I like how he develops receivers. I didn’t really grow up watching Ohio State, I was not really into college when I was younger, I was more NFL. But yes, I liked it, it was nice.”

Find out more about Chris Henry Jr. in this exclusive video interview with Marc Givler. We go in-depth on a range of topics and get you up-to-speed with this class of 2026 name that you are going to want to follow closely.