re: 2013 Alabama Football Recruiting Thread - DH Decommited from UGA

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Julio clone

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Recruiting hasn’t slowed down for Brendan Langley, but the ESPN 150 defensive back has been trying to lay low and take it easy in recent weeks.

The Marietta, Ga., Kell High School prospect has put the recruiting process aside as he finished up the track season and started in with the football team for spring practice. Although he only worked out on the gridiron for a week, Langley believes he still got something out of it.

“I was only there for the second week, so it was pretty short, but it was fun,” he said. “I learned a lot. That’s always my goal going into things is to learn something, take something out of it, and I believe I did. In my opinion, it was productive. It was fun, and I’m just ready to get to the summer, get to these 7-on-7s, a couple camps and make my decision.”

During the week Langley was out on the football field, University of Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart stopped by to see him. He also received visits from Auburn, Georgia and Tennessee. On Sunday, Langley talked with Smart, his main recruiter for the Crimson Tide.

“He was saying the same old stuff,” Langley said. “We just talked about how much he and the rest of the staff would like me to be down there. He asked me about school and things like that.”

As of Tuesday, Langley still had Georgia on top, but Alabama has closed the gap in the last month, and Tennessee has moved up into his top three “Georgia is still on top with Alabama a close second and Tennessee a close third,” he said.

The 6-foot-1, 181-pound defensive back plans to visit all three schools before making a decision. At this point, he’s scheduled to visit Tuscaloosa the first week of June for the Tide’s opening summer camp.

“I’m still going to take in some key factors, but for the most part, that will probably be it, and I’ll end up making my decision later in the summer after I’ve taken all of my visits and done all that."

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LITTLE ROCK – A smile broke out across Pulaski Academy four-star tight end Hunter Henry’s face as he turned his head away from the reporter, almost looking a little bit embarrassed.

Yes, he said. He has heard that the three Fayetteville players who committed to Arkansas on Monday – quarterback Austin Allen, safety Alex Brignoni and linebacker Brooks Ellis – were making it a priority to get him on board with the Razorbacks.

“People have been telling me that,” Henry said Wednesday after Pulaski Academy’s spring scrimmage. “I mean, it’s good. I’m glad they’re saying that. They’ll be coming down here to play me in the scrimmage coming up soon (in August). It’s going to be fun, just competing against them. Hopefully we’ll see down the road, see what happens.”

Henry, who has a top six of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Stanford and Vanderbilt, put on a show in the intrasquad scrimmage, catching touchdown passes of 55 and 52 yards as his Blue team beat the White 22-20.

“He looked like I thought he would tonight,” Pulaski Academy Coach Kevin Kelley said of Henry, who’s ranked the No. 5 tight end in the nation and the 110th-best recruit overall. “Really kind of looked like an older kid amongst some younger kids at times. Scored two long touchdowns and did what we wanted him to do.”

Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino sat alone on a bench near the end zone where Henry scored his two touchdowns. Razorbacks recruiting coordinator Tim Horton was in the stands and on the sideline. Vanderbilt tight ends coach Charles Bankins and an assistant coach Georgia were also there to see him.

The 6-6, 235-pound Henry, who had 64 receptions for 1,091 yards and 16 touchdowns last season, knew they would all be present, but said he tried to block it out.

“I don’t really like to pay attention to it,” he said. “I just like to focus on the game. I focus on what I have here to do and just play for my team. That’s what I’m trying to focus on.”

He’s managed to find some time for recruiting during the spring, taking an unofficial visit to Stanford last weekend. Henry said it was a good trip.

“I learned a lot out there,” Henry said. “I had a great time and got to do a lot that I really wanted to do. It’s just a great opportunity that I have to go around the country and see different places that no one else really would be able to do.”

Henry plans to make a few more trips this summer, and said he was “pretty sure” he would make another visit to Arkansas, where his father, Mark Henry, played.

“I think I’m going to get up there so I can see Coach (John L.) Smith and some people,” he said.

“I talked to Coach Smith about three weeks ago and we just had a good conversation, kind of talked about how they want me at Arkansas, and how they really are trying to push as hard as they can, just pull my leg every day to get me up to Arkansas.”

Henry had said in the past that he might decided on his college home before his senior season, but repeated Thursday that he’ll probably draw the process out a little more to learn “about each school and find out the real place I want to be.”

Henry’s high school coach said he’s been impressed with the way he has handled the recruiting process.

“Hunter’s a humble kid. He’s handled himself really, really well,” Kelley said. “He understands. He knew it was going to be a process before it started. His parents have been fantastic in the way they helped encouraged him but kind of stayed away, let him make his own decision where he wnted to go and things like that.

“But him being a humble kid is the biggest thing. As I sit and watch and read about other kids and stuff, sometimes they don’t know how to handle it very well. And it’s tough all of a sudden when everybody wants to come see you and everybody wants to talk to you. But I’ve been extremely pleased with it, and he hasn’t let it get in the way of his football or just the kind of kid he is.”

As he did with his two touchdown catches, Henry gives credit to other people for his humility.

“I have great friends that keep me humble,” he said. “I have a great family constantly reminding me to stay humble and just have great people around me.”

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MOBILE, Ala. -- Wide receivers better be careful coming over the middle against St. Paul’s Episcopal School this year because linebacker Tre Williams is likely to level you.

In Friday’s spring game against a team out of Mississippi, one receiver made the mistake of trying to catch a ball over the middle. Williams found him and laid out the smaller player as soon as he made contact with the football.

“Coach said he hadn’t seen me hit all spring, so I had to give him something,” Williams said. “I had to get a good hit in.”

Hitting comes naturally to the 6-foot-2, 217-pound Williams. It’s part of what makes him one of the top rising juniors in the state, if not the whole country.

The Mobile native has added offers from LSU, Ole Miss and USC this spring to go along with the offers he already had from Alabama, Auburn, Florida State and Kentucky. The Southern Cal offer surprised him a little.

“It’s great to know people hours away know about me. It feels great.”

Assistant coaches from both Alabama and Florida State were on the sideline for Friday’s spring game. For the Tide, defensive backs coach Jeremy Pruitt made the trip, and Williams made sure it was worth his while.

“It means a lot,” Williams said. “He told me he was coming, and you know I had to prepare for that. I had to put on a show for him, and I was just ready to play. I was ready to get back on this field and play hard.”

Williams visited both Alabama and Auburn this spring for a practice, and he plans to return to Tuscaloosa the first week of June for the Tide’s summer camp. It will be his second year in a row competing at the camp.

“I feel good to go back at a different size, different weight, to see where I stand at according to the other competitors,” Williams said.

“Last year, I wasn’t as big as I am now, and I was actually looking up towards the seniors to see how they did and what Alabama sees in them to see what I needed to do to get that recognition.”

It’s safe to say he’s received that recognition now.

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