Henderson recaps his NIU pledge

Former Carol Stream (Ill.) Glenbard North standout cornerback Tyrik Henderson (5-foot-11, 165 pounds), who attended St. Thomas More Prep School in Connecticut this fall recently gave Northern Illinois University his verbal commitment. Henderson, who was a three star ranked cornerback in the Class of 2018 discusses his journey which will lead him to NIU in this recruiting update.

"I'll be signing with NIU on December 19th," Henderson said. "I'm wrapping up this semester at St. Thomas More and then I'll be back home and I'll be starting the spring semester at NIU."

Henderson discussed why he decided to give NIU his verbal commitment.

"NIU has been with me over the past two years and they never gave up on me and have been very loyal. The last time around with recruiting I made all of these different visits and played the game. This time I didn't want to make a ton of visits and play the game. I had interest from a bunch of schools like Kansas, Syracuse, Boston College and some others. NIU has been there for me and I can trust the coaches at NIU. NIU is a winning program and I know that I can come in and try to keep that winning tradition going strong. NIU being close to home is a positive and I'm excited to be back closer to home. NIU recruited me as a defensive back and I can play either corner or safety, whatever they need me to play."

Henderson will wrap up this semester at St. Thomas More and filled us in on his experiences at the Prep School level.

"The prep school route was totally different than what I expected. They really focus on academics and sports plus I was also able to gain more interest off the field. I'm in several activities and clubs and I've ben very active in just learning new things. Looking back I needed an extra year. Football wise we played some great teams and great competition all season. Our team alone will have a lot of kids going on to play at several Power 5 schools and we played against a lot of highly recruited kids. I feel like I was able to grow up more and prep school definitely has me more ready for college. I would tell kids that if they have the option to go the prep school route to definitely consider it."

Tyrik Henderson is verbally committed to Northern Illinois University.