Henry making believers

High-major coaches made a mad scramble in Las Vegas to find out two things: Who is Jason Henry and where is he playing? Now coaches are asking about getting him on campus and possibly making a commitment.

Not bad for a guy that received little fanfare outside of his West Memphis, Ark., home. The 6-foot-6, 190-pound prospect is headed to prep school and a host of high-majors are in strong pursuit.

Henry, a member of the Rivals150 list since the spring, is currently rated as the No. 28 overall player in the class of 2007. Now at Light of the World Academy in Decatur, Ga., Henry is preparing for a year of improving his academics and fine tuning a great natural ability on the hardwood under the tutelage of his head coach Mac Cleveland.

"To be honest, I've evaluated a lot of players and I don't want to sound over zealous but Jason Henry is a potential NBA draft pick after prep school. He's better than some of these guys that were drafted. He's better than Martell Webster to me," Cleveland said.

"I think he can be that good with more practice and just being better educated with the game and having more repetitions. He just needs to really learn the game. Jason just doesn't know what he does. He just plays. With some work, he's going to be really good. I think he's a pro talent."

Henry, even with little work and legs that played nearly 40 minutes a game in every AAU game he played in this summer, was one of the most intriguing players on the circuit. The mutli-dimensional guard has a great handle, wiry body, good athleticism, an uncanny ability to get to the basket and a potential that is yet to be tapped into.

"As far as ability and talent goes, I haven't seen too many guys better than him. He's one of the top five, top ten players in the country and it's not even close," Cleveland said. "…I've watched him against second year junior college players at an event in July and he was the best player there. He was special."

The colleges seem to think so, too. Henry and Cleveland will officially visit Clemson on Sept. 2. Trips to LSU, Tennessee, Louisville and possibly Oregon and East Tennessee State are in the process of being set up, Cleveland said.

"The plan is to sign early. It's not a 100 percent possibility but that is what he's working towards," Cleveland said.