Xavier Nwankpa's path to a decision

As five-star safety Xavier Nwankpa gets ready to announce his decision, which will come at 4 PM CT today, we thought it would be a good time to take a look back at his recruiting journey along the way.

The first time I saw Nwankpa play was three years ago when he was a skinny freshman starting at cornerback for Southeast Polk in the state semifinals against Cedar Falls in 2018. I was there to cover Gavin Williams and Jack Campbell, both of whom ended up becoming Hawkeyes, but took note of the only freshman starting in the game, which was Nwankpa and mentioned his name for the first time on our message board at the time.

The following summer, Nwankpa earned his first scholarship offer prior to his sophomore year when Nebraska offered on July 1, 2019, and that one was quickly followed by Iowa State, where his father ran track, as the Cyclones offered on July 3, 2019.

The Iowa Hawkeyes were next, offering midway through his sophomore season during a game day visit to Iowa City on October 12, 2019. After that, Notre Dame was offer No. 4 as that one also took place during a game day visit, which was November 16, 2019.

Once Nwankpa finished his sophomore season, collecting 52.5 tackles and three interceptions, things started to pick up even more with an offer from Missouri in January of 2020, Kansas State in February, and Michigan in March to up the total to seven at the time.

After that came an offer from Michigan State on April 28, 2020 followed by Florida Atlantic in July, but as his junior year was about to begin at Southeast Polk things really took off. First was Oklahoma and Florida in August o f 2020, then Minnesota and Wisconsin in early September, followed by Texas, Ohio State, Penn State, Kentucky, Princeton, and LSU by the end of September of 2020.

In October of 2020, Nwankpa announced that he had been selected to play in the All-American Bowl in San Antonio, along with new offers from Louisville and Arizona State, which pushed his total up to 21 overall. Then, on November 8, 2020, offer No. 22 came from Clemson.

As Nwankpa finished up his junior season in 2020, collecting 41 tackles and six interceptions with Southeast Polk making it to the state title game, he decided it was time to start narrowing things down.

On New Year's Day - January 1, 2021 - he released a top 12 with a list that included Iowa, Iowa State, Ohio State, Clemson, Penn State, Texas, Notre Dame, LSU, Nebraska, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Arizona State.

Of course, releasing your top schools doesn't mean the offers will stop rolling in, as the very next day Florida State offered followed by Texas A&M, Oregon, and USC later on in January. In February of 2021, it was Illinois, Alabama, and Central Florida adding their names to the list followed by Georgia and TCU in March, which brought Nwankpa's total up to 30 scholarship offers in all.

With the recruiting calendar finally opening back up in June of 2021, it was time to start narrowing things down again as Nwankpa looked to start scheduling his summer visits. Ultimately, he decided to cut it down to seven, which were Iowa, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Clemson, LSU, and Arizona State.

Scheduling his official visits, Nwankpa first went to Ohio State on June 4, 2021 followed by Texas A&M on June 11 and Notre Dame on June 18. Then, he made an unofficial visit to Iowa on June 25 and that was it for the summer with the plan to take some more trips during the season.

Once the 2021 college football season kicked off, Nwankpa was at Iowa for their season opener on September 4 and scheduled a return trip on October 9 for his official visit.

At the time, he decided to narrow things down even further and named a top three of Iowa, Notre Dame, and Ohio State on October 2, 2021.

With his three finalists set, Nwankpa made plans to visit each school one more time before making a decision, which he set for December 8, his birthday.

First was his official visit to Iowa on October 9 when the Hawkeyes played Penn State, followed by an unofficial visit to Notre Dame on October 23 when the Irish hosted USC and then Ohio State on October 30 when the Buckeyes played Penn State.

After the three October visits, Nwankpa turned his focus solely on the task at hand, which was trying to win a state title in football for the first time in school history at Southeast Polk.

Coming full circle, the last two times I got a chance to see Nwankpa play at Southeast Polk High School was also at the UNI-Dome, same as the first time, as he turned in impressive performances in all three phases in a 33-7 semifinal win over City High and then a 24-7 win over Ankeny in the state championship game.

Wrapping up his senior year with 26 tackles and four interceptions on defense, 33 catches for 391 yards and five touchdowns on offense, and 307 return yards and one touchdown on special teams, Nwankpa did exactly what he set out to do and that was bring a state championship trophy to Southeast Polk.

Now, with the focus back on recruiting during the month of December, Nwankpa had in-home visits from each of his three finalists over the past week.

First was Ohio State on December 1 with head coach Ryan Day and secondary coach Matt Barnes making the trip for the Buckeyes.

Then, after a coaching change that saw Brian Kelly leave for LSU and defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman promoted to head coach, Notre Dame sent assistant coaches Chris O'Leary, Mike Mickens, and Chad Bowden in to visit on December 2.

Last was Iowa as the Hawkeyes had head coach Kirk Ferentz, defensive coordinator Phil Parker, and lead recruiter Jay Niemann in to visit on Monday, December 6.

Now, it is decision time. Iowa, Ohio State, or Notre Dame?

Nwankpa is set to announce his commitment at 4 PM CT today in a ceremony at Southeast Polk High School.

Rivals.com will be there full full coverage.