5 star 2022 Safety Xavier Nwankpa commits to Iowa over OSU, ND
Highest rated recruit in the history of the state of Iowa stays home to become the highest rated recruit in the history of the Iowa football program.
Big loss for OSU and ND. Earlier today OSU had a 5 star 2023 safety commit (Sonny Styles) reclassify into the 2022 class, which was necessary as OSU has missed and is expected to miss on all their other safety targets. Styles is the #13 player overall (26 to 247) after reclassifying, but will be 17 years old his entire freshman year. Seems likely that Styles isn't able to contribute much as a freshman, and reclassifying means he is only a significant contributor for 2 years instead of 3 years before going pro.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:20 PM ^
December 8th, 2021 at 5:23 PM ^
He figured they could use his services.
December 8th, 2021 at 6:01 PM ^
He's going to play quarterback?
December 8th, 2021 at 7:44 PM ^
No, the kid actually has a future.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:23 PM ^
I can understand a kid from Iowa wanting to play for that defense...If I was a skill position I'd be running.
December 8th, 2021 at 7:38 PM ^
It is why they can't get WR and QB while the fail son is still the OC. I am from there and get considerable gnashing of the teeth from my friends back home on this topic. Phil Parker on the other hand is solid.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:30 PM ^
Successful "keep-away" from osu and ND is always a Michigan win.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:34 PM ^
Iowa has a very well-coached secondary. The program’s ceiling is to get destroyed in the conference title game, but it’s not a bad place to learn defense.
December 8th, 2021 at 8:16 PM ^
To be fair to Iowa, they did almost beat MSU in the BTCG back in the 2015 season. They likely would’ve won and made the CFP if MSU didn’t convert what I think were three or four straight fourth downs on its final game winning drive.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:21 PM ^
My goodness. That is something.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:23 PM ^
? magic is amazing
December 8th, 2021 at 5:23 PM ^
We should applaud and thank Xavier for staying home so he can play in front of family and friends (and not play for one of our 3 biggest rivals).
December 8th, 2021 at 5:31 PM ^
This guy gets it! #GoHawks
December 8th, 2021 at 5:52 PM ^
He was considering Illinois?
December 8th, 2021 at 6:22 PM ^
Only reason to ever consider Illinois....
December 8th, 2021 at 8:52 PM ^
Mmmmm, Mrs. Bielema?
December 8th, 2021 at 5:24 PM ^
Is it easy to reclassify? Seems like it wouldn’t be easy unless it had already been planned and worked on for quite some time.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:29 PM ^
Not particularly. More common in basketball since so many kids go to prep school along with the fact that you can enter the draft much earlier than in football so kids are incentivized to get out of HS as fast as possible.
Sounds like this has been in the works for a bit though. I do think we'll see more football players start to re-class with NIL being a thing, like Quinn Ewers. Styles is from Ohio and his dad went to OSU, so I don't think this ends up like Ewers though.
December 8th, 2021 at 6:10 PM ^
He could always realize Marcus Freeman's regret was real and transfer to Notre Dame to play with his brother.
December 8th, 2021 at 8:08 PM ^
My nephew, a classmate of Sonny at Pickerington Central, says he is a great kid. And my SIL, who has had him in class says he is a very good student. He has summer school classes available.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:25 PM ^
I love that OSU can keep getting recruits to reclassify a year early. That 5 star QB Euwers? did the same thing and then entered the transfer portal this year.
Like, OH YEA, I TOTALLY forgot I had all the credits to graduate high school a full year early.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:44 PM ^
At our local school, you need to have 21 of 24 credits to graduate, so you could basically only take 3 classes in theory your senior year.
Then, they have a virtual program in which you do two weeks of work online and get a semester's credit. You can take two of those classes at a time, so in 6 weeks you could get the credits you need. Most of the time it's used for kids that have to make up credit to try and graduate, but I could definitely see it like this for someone who wants to graduate early.
December 8th, 2021 at 7:20 PM ^
I'm not convinced it's a good idea in many cases. Sure, some kids will be fine, but it makes the adjustment to college life more difficult for many of them. I made enough dumb decisions when I was 18 and in college; I know it wouldn't have been better had I been a year younger.
Also, these kids are losing a year of game experience that could be helpful--both to them and the school recruiting them. For the athlete it may be a wash depending on the quality of the coaching he gets; the school risks discovering that the kid would have fallen down the recruiting rankings as a senior.
Still, I think it's going to be increasingly common (like the transfer portal).
December 8th, 2021 at 9:19 PM ^
I prefer the “reclassify” two years later in the case of LDS mission by Gentry.
OSU can go straight to hell IMHO.
December 9th, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
Yep. My high school taught government in the 2nd semester of your senior year because we had enough credits to graduate as juniors - except for the required government class.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:25 PM ^
CJ Stroud has also blamed this loss on the flu.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:28 PM ^
Best comment in this thread.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:26 PM ^
Poor Sonny. Doomed to only be as good as his talent will take him until he finally gets coaching on Sundays.
December 8th, 2021 at 9:58 PM ^
Iowa has a good track record of putting defense and OLineman in the league.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:32 PM ^
I'd give him 5 starts on name alone. Hopefully he can play quarterback or it won't matter.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:32 PM ^
Thank god we only play them next year while he’s a true freshman in his 5th career game. We don’t play them until 2025 at which point he should be in the NFL like most top 50 players are. Dude is about to be a menace in Iowa’s system of just baiting other teams throw an interception.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:38 PM ^
We'll probably see him in Indy for the B1G championship game for a couple of years (assuming Iowa makes it in).
December 8th, 2021 at 5:35 PM ^
They better teach him not to suck up when #7 gets the backward swing pass.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:42 PM ^
What would you do, backpedal when Edwards has the ball?
December 8th, 2021 at 5:56 PM ^
That wouldn't be successful either.
The only correct move would be to ball up into the fetal position, cry and insert thumb in mouth.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:44 PM ^
Good for this kid. I like when the home town kids stay home instead of going to the football factories. Plus I don't hate Iowa. No doubt they want to beat us every time we play but I don't get the impression they try to make us their "biggest rival" like some schools. I am looking at you Illinois.
December 8th, 2021 at 5:59 PM ^
FUCK OHIO!
December 8th, 2021 at 6:03 PM ^
Iowa ?!
December 8th, 2021 at 8:11 PM ^
Yep, Iowa. The team that leads college football in interceptions and is top 5 in passing efficiency defense.
December 8th, 2021 at 6:18 PM ^
This is a win
December 8th, 2021 at 6:21 PM ^
If Kerry Coombs is the corners coach, Matt Barnes is the "secondary coach" according to the team website. Not sure if this means safeties or what but could this mean Barnes feels slighted by the Knowles hiring and is leaving? Would imagine Barnes would be his main recruiter.
December 8th, 2021 at 6:57 PM ^
With the way the OSU defense has played the last couple of years, I really don't think they care who is slighted as it sounds like they'll replace 2 or 3 defensive assistants.
December 8th, 2021 at 6:22 PM ^
FYI pretty sure Empanesa was more highly rated than Xavier.
December 8th, 2021 at 7:01 PM ^
Epenesa was ranked 27th nationally in his class, this guy is ranked 11th nationally
December 8th, 2021 at 6:44 PM ^
Good for him and good for Iowa.
Stay home, make good NIL money, and get a decent education while playing in a defense that is suited to show off your skills for the next level.
December 8th, 2021 at 7:42 PM ^
Damn, just excluded Indiana entirely.
December 8th, 2021 at 6:52 PM ^
Good post. Although it’s kind of funny that we are celebrating OSU “having to” reclassify a 5 star like they are in rough shape.
December 8th, 2021 at 7:01 PM ^
Their offense is loaded for bear next year. Defense ? A HUGE question mark.
December 8th, 2021 at 8:03 PM ^
Honestly, it's a good thing that Iowa was able to keep a kid like that home. Iowa sends secondary guys to the NFL with some frequency and so being able to sell your local kids to not go elsewhere is huge.