Major 2022 Ohio State safety target earns fifth star

Ohio State is just weeks away from the season opener at Minnesota. With this, the majority of the coaching staff’s focus is on preseason camp to ensure the team is in the best position to succeed. However, the Buckeyes still found a way to make the recruiting headlines on Monday. In case you were busy with work and missed anything, don’t worry, Land-Grant Holy Land has you covered.

Rivals releases updated list of 2022 5-stars

Ohio State’s 2022 recruiting class is quickly coming together. The Buckeyes hold the No. 3 recruiting class in the nation with 14 verbal commits. On Monday, Rivals.com released its updated list of five-star prospects and multiple Ohio State commits and targets were included in the list, including one new face.

New five-star safety prospect and Ohio State target Xavier Nwankpa saw his name added to Rivals’ list of five-star prospects.

Nwankpa has long been associated with Ohio State and the Buckeyes are one of his top schools. Back in May, the blue-chip prospect released his top seven schools and alongside Ohio State, he included Clemson, Iowa, LSU, Notre Dame, Texas A&M and Arizona State.

Ohio State is viewed as one of the favorites to land Nwankpa’s commitment; the team currently holds 100-percent of the 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions. However, both Iowa and Notre Dame are still viewed as contenders as well. There appears to be talks of Nwankpa wanting to visit the Buckeyes during a game this season and if this comes to fruition, it will be hard for the Buckeyes to not knock this one out of the park. However, he will likely try to visit some of the other schools on his list as well.

Adding Nwankpa to the 2022 class would be extremely beneficial for the Buckeyes. The team has not yet received a commitment from a safety in this class, although they have added three cornerbacks already. Nwankpa would help make the secondary haul in the class even more successful for Ohio State.

Nwankpa wasn’t the only recruit associated with Ohio State to be listed on Rivals newest list of five-stars. The rest of the future Buckeyes included on the list are below:

Ohio State offensive tackle target Kam Dewberry:

Ohio State offensive tackle target Zach Rice:

Ohio State linebacker commit Gabe Powers:

Ohio State linebacker commit C.J. Hicks:

Quick Hits:

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was asked at Monday’s meeting with the media about whether or not the Buckeyes would target a new quarterback now that 2022 five-star QB Quinn Ewers has reclassified to the 2021 class. While Day did not rule the idea out, there doesn’t seem to be a big push to secure one right now.

With the class wrapping up, it appears Day and Ohio State will wait until 2023 or 2024 to find their next elite QB prospect.