How Did Jaden Allen-Hendrix and His Jumbo Back Ability Get out of South Carolina?

STILLWATER – The whole situation developed lat last week. The Oklahoma State football recruiting staff was going over video again. Somebody had tipped the Pokes off on a running back from Columbia, S.C. that was 6-2, 225-pounds and the initial thoughts were this guy must not have much speed. Then you turn the video on and you see that he runs away from as many defenders as he runs over. Okay, maybe his grades are suspect or worse. No, he has a 3.6 GPA. Now, the thought is he must be a bad kid. Oklahoma State brought Jaden Allen-Hendrix on an official visit last weekend and found a good kid, smart, and more than capable of playing running back and he loves to play football. He hits all of Mike Gundy’s high notes.

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Mike Gundy talks Jaden Allen-Hendrix.

“Jaden is bigger, obviously from much further away, but we really like him,” Gundy said at his signing day news conference on Wednesday. “[I] met him for the first time just a week ago when we came in for a visit with his mom, and he’s a potential 245-pound back. He’s just kind of scratching the surface.”

His base is pretty high as this season he rushed for 2,215-yards and 25 touchdowns on 232 carries. He averaged 9.5-yards a carry. He caught 21 passes for 363-yards and four more touchdowns. One of my favorite plays his senior season was a wheel route that he makes the catch downfield and looks like a jumbo wide receiver.

Gilbert High School

Allen-Hendrix as a junior at Gilbert H.S.

The question, was Allen-Hendrix disappointed that he didn’t pick up his first Power Five offer until Oklahoma State last week.

“Kind of, sort of, but I tried to stay positive about it,” he answered. “Now, I’m going to Stillwater.”

Here’s what I believe happened. Allen-Hendrix admitted his move from Gilbert, his junior year, to Irmo in Columbia was a move from a smaller high school to a larger. You can see it on the video. Now, in enrollment it is not major as Gilbert has approximately 1,000 students and Irmo is a little over 1,200 students.

You can see the competition is different. Allen-Hendrix rushed for close to 1,600-yards as a junior and he was good. Most major schools do so much of their recruiting off junior tape. Oklahoma State got a hold of both and found it convincing.

“He changed schools. Originally, he was at a smaller school, so we feel like he hasn’t developed his body anywhere near what it’s going to be two years from now,” Gundy elaborated. “So, we really like what he brings to the table. Some of the things we’re going rushing the ball, as you know all backs do.”

He gains lots of yards, does it a lot of ways, and finds the end zone often. I think folks are going to love him.

“It was amazing. When I got there the atmosphere was great,” Allen-Hendrix said. “It was a lot like back here at home. It was real welcoming.”