I wrote about newly minted National Wrestling Hall of Famer Sammie Henson today because he has my attention. Quickly turn around a program, the curiosity is piqued. Send a freshman to the NCAA final, my brow is arched. Recruit at a crazy-elite level, that itch begs scratching. Make a Hall, I’m all ears.

Henson’s done all of that in an extremely impressive first year, so we spoke, and you can’t help but some away impressed with the explanation, much like you can’t help but be impressed with the results. He’s good at this, and he belongs to WVU. The combination is quite fortuitous because wrestling needed this sort of enthusiasm booster.

His second recruiting class — and the first he and his staff could devote a full year to — is ranked No. 5 by Flo Wrestling.

“When I was at Oklahoma, my first year we had the No. 2 recruiting class in the country,” he said. “My first year at Missouri we had the No. 2 recruiting class in the country. We’ve done it before.

“It was a lot of hard work by the staff and our athletic department and everybody behind the scenes, from academics to the strength coach and the nutritionist. We bought them in and made sure we showed them what we had to offer. I think what impressed them most was showing them the family atmosphere we had.”

Of the 12 signees, Austin Myers, Connor Flynn and Keegan Moore won national titles in April. The class also features a four-time state champion, two three-time state champions and four state runners-up this year. The recruits are from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Georgia and Idaho. Each is already enrolled in summer classes.

“Just because I’ve lived and coached in so many different parts of the country, I know coaches in Pennsylvania like I know coaches in California and Missouri,” said Henson, an assistant at Missouri, Oklahoma, Cal Poly, Nebraska, Army and Penn State. “I honestly think we can go after the best kid in the country, no matter where he is.”

So there’s that story, which is not to say it’s the story or the reason we’re here right now.

Henson is zipping across the country right now with his two sons, Jackson and Wyatt. (Sadly, the two dogs, Nelly and Biggie Smalls — and those are the names — are at home.) One by one, he’s ticking off wrestling camps in Kansas, California, Morgantown and later Texas.

The ones off campus? Those are satellite camps for the uninitiated, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this. In fact, if you possess that sort of reach and sway, to say nothing of the potential to, you know, do your job to the best of your ability, and you aren’t doing this, then you’re in the wrong.

We don’t call them satellite camps in wrestling because, honestly, we don’t pay a ton of attention to wrestling. And SEC schools don’t wrestle, save Missouri, which is in and dominates the Mid-American Conference. So the attention, the fury and thus the interest goes to football.

But it’s the same. It’s a coach going all over the map, working camps and putting eyes on recruits who put coaches on their minds. And to repeat: It’s fine. It’s fine in football. Is it necessary in football? That’s entirely subjective. In wrestling and/or at a place like WVU? Again, subjective, and Henson believes the Mountaineers can “can go after the best kid in the country, no matter where he is.” That is part of the reason he was hired.

Still, Henson was hesitant to talk about this, and he didn’t really want to entertain that comparison, never mind elaborate on it. Our conversation concerned him, and Henson was cautious about what he said and what would be reported. I tell you this not so you hold it against him or even consider it out of the ordinary. It wasn’t some sort of quirk, overbearing reaction or attempt to steer the conversation toward a story about a dad hanging with his kids. Not at all.

It was actually a natural, understandable and acceptable response. Why? Here comes the point, and perhaps you should sit down for this: The NCAA is OK with satellite camps where permissible. The NCAA has a problem when coaches who permissibly participate in satellite camps actively promote the permissible participation in permissible satellite camps.

Thanks to Jim Harbaugh announcing his presence with authority, there was an actual interpretation in May by the … ahem … NCAA Interpretations Committee — and the fact we need a committee to interpret things speaks to how troubled and trivial the rule book is. Hey, you can indeed do this thing that’s legal and thus competitively fair, but do not use social media to publicly advertise it because that would not be competitively fair. 

Henson, obviously, did not want to misstep, and understand that in his world as a competitor and as a coach, the most minor missteps can have the most extreme consequences. There are no small details in wrestling and there are no small details in NCAA compliance. I’m just continually impressed by the NCAA because it cannot swing a singlet without hitting a nerve.