National Signing Day is over. The Ohio State football program has its entire 2022 recruiting class signed now. The Buckeyes started the day with the fifth-best recruiting class in the country and that’s where they finished. They’re slotted just behind Georgia and just ahead of Texas.
As far as the Big Ten conference is concerned, the Buckeyes have the best class. Penn State has the sixth-best class in the country. Michigan finished at 8th. No other program in the conference finished with a top 20 class. By that measure, this class is a success for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State did gather a lot of really good prospects in this class that can be impactful players for years to come. The reason I say it’s not spectacular is that there isn’t that elite prospect that will get a lot of headlines right out of the gate. That is reserved for the truly great recruiting classes.
Sonny Styles is my favorite prospect from this class and the one who I think will end up being the best player out of everyone. The five-star safety fills a need for the Ohio State football team and has the ball skills to make some big plays. He could be Malik Hooker with more impact in the run game.
While Day didn’t end up with as high of a ranking as last year’s class, it’s pretty hard to beat a number two ranking. That is what a spectacular class is. If Day gets more classes as he did in 2019, this team is going to make the Playoff every year.
The 2022 class is a class that won’t have a lot of immediate impact players. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad class. It just means the recruits will have to learn some things before they get a chance to play significant snaps. They have to wait their turn.