The Hurry-Up: Ohio State Offers Four-Star Athlete Robert Stafford, Xavier Nwankpa Commits to Iowa, Buckeyes to Visit Omari Abor

By Garrick Hodge on December 8, 2021 at 5:37 pm
Robert Stafford
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Well, today isn’t a busy day on the Ohio State recruiting beat, is it?

In case you missed it earlier, five-star safety Sonny Styles has reclassified from 2023 to 2022 and plans to sign with Ohio State on Dec. 15. We broke down what Styles’ decision means for his future and for the Buckeyes as their top target in the 2023 class will now be arriving at Ohio State a year early.

There are a few more recruiting tidbits to also delve into today, including another top safety target going elsewhere, but first we take a look at the newest prospect to receive an offer from the Buckeyes.

OSU offers Stafford

The Buckeyes’ latest offer from their recruiting visits on the road went out to four-star Florida 2023 athlete Robert Stafford on Wednesday. Since defensive backs coach Matt Barnes presented Stafford with the offer, it could be an indicator OSU sees Stafford as a defensive back at the next level. Stafford was primarily a wide receiver in 2020, but played on both offense and defense this past season.

As a junior, Stafford caught 42 passes for 605 yards and five touchdowns as a wide receiver while racking up 19 tackles, an interception he returned for 45 yards, five pass deflections and a fumble recovery on defense. According to 247Sports’ composite rankings, Stafford is considered the 270th-best prospect nationally and the 52nd-best recruit from Florida. Stafford has around 30 Division I scholarship offers with a list that also includes Tennessee, Penn State, Utah, Ole Miss and Arkansas.

Nwankpa picks Iowa

While Styles is now in Ohio State’s recruiting class of 2022, another of Ohio State’s top safety targets for the class is off the board. Four-star safety Xavier Nwankpa officially chose to stay home on Wednesday, giving his verbal commitment to his hometown Iowa Hawkeyes on his birthday. He received an in-home visit from Iowa earlier this week. 

Nwankpa picking Iowa will certainly sting for Ohio State considering the time investment the Buckeyes put into his recruitment, but they will have to move on nevertheless. For 2022, it is now Zion Branch or bust as far as landing prep safeties go, but the prospects of landing the Las Vegas product aren’t all that promising either. That could leave Styles and Kye Stokes as the only safeties in the Buckeyes’ 2022 class.

Buckeyes to visit Abor

Ohio State has made no shortage of in-home visits over the past week-and-a-half to 2022 prospects it would like to land. Another big visit is on tap this week.

According to 247Sports, Ryan Day and OSU defensive line coach Larry Johnson will visit five-star edge rusher Omari Abor in Texas this week, both at his school and then later at his home. Per the report, Johnson already visited Abor last week and was the only coach to make an in-home visit during that time period. 

“The connection that they have with my wife and I and their interest in our son,” Abor's father Randy told 247Sports about the impression OSU has made in his son’s recruitment. “(Omari) said Larry Johnson is the best edge rusher coach, the style of defense they run and the cold weather.”

Abor is ranked nationally as the 37th-best prospect and the fourth-best edge rusher. He visited OSU on Oct. 30 when the Buckeyes hosted Penn State. He is one of several key defensive line targets the Buckeyes are still trying to earn the commitment of with one week to go until the early signing period, along with Hero Kanu and Caden Curry. Abor plans on announcing his decision in January at the All-American Bowl. 

More in-home visits

Another defensive lineman the Buckeyes are still pursuing is Christen Miller. Day and Johnson visited the Georgia four-star defensive lineman on Tuesday, making one last recruiting pitch. Miller has said previously he’s down to Ohio State and Georgia in his recruitment, with his hometown Bulldogs being the heavy favorite to land Miller. 

Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline and Day also visited 2022 commit Kojo Antwi while Day was in Georgia.

Between Friday and Sunday, Ohio State visited several of its in-state commits, including Avery Henry, C.J. Hicks, Tegra Tshabola and Jyaire Brown.

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