The latest in a whirlwind week for Ohio State’s 2022 recruiting efforts

The Buckeyes will be back at it on Saturday when they take on Penn State under the lights in their first road contest of the young season. Though the anticipation of this game may have died down a little bit with Indiana’s upset of the Nittany Lions last weekend, it’s still a huge match-up, and one that Ryan Day and crew will have the players riled up for.

On the recruiting front, as we have seen all over social media this week, Ohio State has some serious momentum growing in their class of 2022. With six current commitments, there’s news aplenty of signs that more talent is on the way. Not just talent, but elite top caliber talent at that.

Since his time as head of the Buckeyes began, Ryan Day has proven recruiting is the lifeblood of the program, and it’s giving Ohio State fans everywhere nothing but excitement for what’s to come.

Crystal Ball explosion

If you’ve been following Ohio State recruiting over the past 48 hours, you likely already know that late Wednesday night the Buckeyes were not just the talk of the town, but talk of the country to be quite honest.

Noted in yesterday’s State Secrets, Quinn Ewers, the No. 1 player and quarterback in the nation in 2022, renounced his Texas commitment, and just moments later the 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions flooded in for Ohio State to be the eventual landing spot for the five-star signal caller. A feat that would absolutely cement Ryan Day as a top quarterback whisperer, it would give the Buckeyes nothing short of an embarrassment of riches at the position group.

While the Ewers news was almost to good to be true, it can’t be forgotten that additional five-stars, such as the top receiver in the class Caleb Burton and top corner back in the class Domani Jackson were also part of the Crystal Ball forecasts that caused Buckeye fans heads to spin. Wednesday night and even into Thursday morning was a scarlet and gray parade of Crystal Balls, and while a commitment has yet to come from anyone of those three and beyond, it’s still telling as to what could be coming up around the corner for this 2022 class Ohio State is putting together.

Staying with the trend, yesterday the good news for the Buckeyes continued when 2022 safety Xavier Nwankpa was also pegged to wind up at Ohio State. A 6-foot-2, 190 pound defensive back out of Iowa, Nwankpa is currently regarded as the No. 110 player nationally, the 10th-best safety in the class, and the No. 2 player in Iowa for 2022 according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

With over 20 scholarship offers to his name from the likes of Florida, LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and of course Ohio State, Nwankpa is definitely a player the Buckeyes want in the fold. He too was one of the many top 2022 guys taking to his Twitter to tease their eventual college destinations. Fortunately, things look very solid right now for Ohio State.

Real versus hype

With all of the headlines surrounding Ohio State’s 2022 class, it’s been wild to see the many top prospects from all over the country feeding on the Buckeyes’ momentum. Whether it’s artificial or realistic, the top targets posting all over social media hasn’t been hard to see. It’s popping up everywhere.

One thing is for sure though — the current commits in the class, such as C.J. Hicks and Dasan McCullough, aren’t messing around, as both have made public their feelings toward the “clout chasers”.

It is clear those two (and others) aren’t going to tolerate prospects “teasing” or using Ohio State as way to boost their own stock. These class of 2022 leaders are as real as it gets, and they want guys in their cycle that are fully committed to being Buckeyes and not playing around.

Not to say that anyone in particular is toying with Ohio State and their feelings towards the Buckeyes, but if anything is for certain, it would be put to a halt real fast.

Before anyone gets too worried about it, it’s important to note that the five-star prospects such as Ewers, Burton, and Jackson, who were all mentioned previously, are not who Hicks and McCullough are likely referring to. These three elite players have all had multiple Crystal Ball forecasts in favor of OSU within the last 48 hours, meaning that these guys have serious interest in Ohio State.

Recruiting is a roller coaster at times, and while some may want to use Ohio State as a popularity contest, the Buckeyes’ commits and staff will easily be able to point that out and shy away from any of those tactics.

Quick Hits:

• 2021 Ohio State running back commit Evan Pryor received his 2021 All-American Bowl jersey this week. A terrific feat for Pryor, it’s another Buckeye pledge that has earned one of the highest accolades a high school player can receive. Though the game will no longer be played, it’s still incredible to see how many Ohio State commits were awarded with this honor.

• With all of the hype regarding Ohio State recruiting, it’s difficult to keep up with it all and who could be next in line to be a Buckeye. Yesterday, Bill Kurelic of Bucknuts wrote a piece giving his insight towards six prospects he feels could be headed to Columbus — in addition to the three 2022 guys that have taken over the headlines..