The Five-Star safety is set to announce Wednesday, December 8th. One week prior to Signing Day.
This date should allow the Ohio State Coaching staff 2 chances to visit with Xavier and his family. One of those visits will happen this Wednesday from what I am told. Now whether that visit will include Coach Day, I am unsure at this time, strategically maybe you save the big gun until the next week, when you know Iowa will go in with Kirk Ferentz.
Some minor updates that I have also come across over the last 24 hours or so.....
Speaking of Iowa, they are very confident. As we all know, they are playing in the BIG Championship this weekend and because of this, they are not planning on hitting the road to recruit during the first week of the contact period. From what I know, that includes not going to see Nwankpa this week. In their minds from what I can tell, the best recruiting pitch they have can come on Saturday with a W. Personally I would at least get the position coach over to see him, but a part of me also admires the confidence and old school approach that Ferentz and staff are insistent on keeping. You won't ever catch them worrying about the flashiness of recruiting. I appreciate the consistency.
There is no doubt though that Iowa has "momentum" based on who you listen to. The home state hero, NIL, parents wanting him closer to home, I have seen and heard it all, and I am sure it is a lot for Xavier to navigate. When you have these home state school type of situations that go late into the recruiting process, the weight of it all only gets a little heavier on these high school kid's shoulders. With that said, from someone close to Xavier, I was told "The one thing I know is Xavier doesn't want to stay home, if he does then I will be surprised."
We will see what happens and I am sure Xavier and his family will have questions for the Buckeye staff when they do come in the house, but I don't think this is as a heavy Iowa lean as maybe some others do. You also still have Notre Dame out there still lurking and they will surely go in shooting their best shot. We will keep you guys updated with anything we hear, should be a fun one to track leading into the announcement on the 8th.
