Ohio State’s 2022 class ramping up to be one for the history books

There’s some negatives swirling around Big Ten football right now due to the COVID-19 issues surrounding mainly Wisconsin and their players. While it seemed likely to happen at least somewhat at some point in time, this pandemic is still serious, and here’s to hoping that the Buckeyes and rest of the Big Ten fight it off both for the health and safety of everyone involved and so the 2020 football season can continue as planned.

Nobody is out of the woods just yet, but fortunately to this point Ohio State has stayed afloat and are doing everything in their immediate power to prevent any hardships that may surface.

Switching gears to more positive vibes, the Buckeyes looked great in week one, and have another big test in the coming days when they head to Happy Valley to take on Penn State. A battle where the Buckeyes have had the upper hand more times than not, there is a talent gap that separates these two programs.

While Penn State is not too far behind, the Buckeyes recruiting efforts every year are second to none in the Big Ten, and it’s proven on the field in their biggest games. With their current 2021 class shaping up to be one for the history books, don’t look now, but 2022 may be just as great, if not better.

There’s some real smoke in 2022

In yesterday’s edition of State Secrets, it was mentioned that there may be an incoming boom for Ohio State’s 2022 class. Multiple current commits such as C.J. Hicks, Dasan McCullough, and Bennett Christian took to their respective Twitter accounts to tease that some major news was coming soon for Buckeye fans.

Without the guys going into detail, there wasn’t much concrete evidence as to who could be the next in line to commit to Ohio State. The only lead we had at the time was the Crystal Ball prediction for Caleb Burton, a Texas native and the top receiver in the 2022 class, by 247Sports analyst Tom Loy — which of course would be incredible!

Fast forward to Wednesday, and those ever-so-poplar Twitter rumblings continued in large part thanks to two major Crystal Ball predictions by Director of Recruiting for 247Sports, Steve Wiltfong, and Bill Kurelic of Bucknuts.com. Those predictions came by way of five-star corner back in the 2022 class, Domani Jackson.

A 6-foot-1, 185-pound star, Jackson has every single tool to be a starter from day one at the next level. Playing his prep ball for the California-powerhouse, Mater Dei, Jackson is currently ranked as the No. 3 player in the country per the 247Sports Composite rankings, and of course the top cornerback in the class.

In what would be an absolutely huge boom for Kerry Coombs and the Buckeyes defense, Jackson’s Crystal Ball predictions aren’t the end all be all, but certainly are coming from the two guys who would know best. Of course nothing is a guarantee in recruiting, but the combo of the Crystal Ball picks as well current commits chatter online makes you think this may not be just an ordinary coincidence timing wise.

Like everything else in recruiting, it’s a wait and see type of game.

As if we forgot to mention it, what made the Twittersphere almost crash for the Buckeye faithful was the aforementioned Caleb Burton reaching out to Jackson, further teasing what would be two huge five-star booms for the Buckeyes and their 2022 class. Burton himself is a top-10 prospect nationally, and the No. 1 WR in the cycle.

This 2022 cycle, like 2021, looks to be one for the ages. Ohio State, like every other program, is unable to get kids on campus for visits, but what they have going for them apparently better than anyone else is the ability to rely on their current commits to do a lot of the recruiting for them. Obviously, it’s paying off.

With six guys already in the fold who are seemingly all vocal leaders and putting in the work, the class of 2022 could be catching fire and doing so real soon.

Quick Hits:

• Perhaps the biggest recruiting news of the day, the nation’s No. 1 QB in the 2022 class has decommitted from Texas. Quinn Ewers, the No. 2 player overall in the 247Sports Composite, had committed to the Longhorns in the middle of August, but has now decided to reconsider. Almost immediately after making the announcement via his Twitter page, Ohio State logged SIX Crystal Ball predictions to land the star QB, including the likes of Steve Wiltfong and Bill Kurelic.

• Per Bill Kurelic, Ohio State is in contact “everyday” with Texas native, Omari Abor. A 6-foot-4, 240-pound defensive end in the class of 2022, Abor is currently ranked as the nation’s No. 93 overall player and the 5th best strong-side defensive end in his class per the 247Sports Composite rankings. Ohio State has yet to offer Abor, but after hearing that the two parties are speaking daily, it’s pretty clear an offer could be coming very soon.
• 2022 five-star Jeremiah Alexander de-committed from the Crimson Tide on Tuesday. A rare move for an Alabama in-state prospect, Alexander has since made it clear that he plans to take visits to other programs before once again committing to the school of his choice. The 6-foot-2, 235-pound DE definitely wants to see Ohio State and what the Buckeyes have to offer. Ranked as the top weak-side defensive end in the country and the No. 11 player overall, this looks to be like a Larry Johnson target to say the least.