College Football

Ohio State, Michigan signees expected to make immediate impact

Updated Feb. 8, 2022 12:29 a.m. ET

College football's National Signing Day is in the books, which naturally shifts the narrative to the following question: Which recruits will make the biggest impact on the field in 2022?

Chris Hummer, who is a national college football writer for 247Sports.com, recently put together a list of 2022 signees who will play right away. He included a total of 23 players on the list, six of which will be playing in the Big Ten Conference this upcoming season.

Highlighting the list is incoming Ohio State linebacker C.J. Hicks, who is a five-star prospect and the top-ranked linebacker recruit in the nation, and Will Johnson, a five-star cornerback who made the decision to stay in state and play for Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines.

Hummer points out that the linebacker position was one of the weaker positions for the Buckeyes this past season.

"Hicks can do anything required of him," Hummer says. "He can blitz. He can cover. He can attack the run.

"The early enrollee is going to have to gain a bit of weight and likely won’t start right away. But he’s the type of player who will force his way on the field plenty next season. Don’t be shocked if he’s starting by season’s end."

While linebacker wasn’t a bright spot on the Buckeyes' defense in 2021, the team is expected to return an abundance of talent at the position, including Steele Chambers, who shined after making the move from running back, as well as Tommy Eichenberg, who recorded a game-high 17 tackles in a memorable victory over Utah in the Rose Bowl. When you add Hicks into the mix, this group has the chance to be much-improved next season.

Johnson will join a Michigan group that is coming off its first Big Ten title since 2004. The Wolverines had a memorable 2021 campaign, highlighted by the team’s 42-27 victory over Ohio State. Harbaugh’s squad went on to defeat Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game and earn the program’s first trip to the College Football Playoff, where they fell to Georgia in a national semifinal matchup.

In that semifinal game, the Wolverines’ secondary was torched by Georgia QB Stetson Bennett, who completed 67% of his passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns. Now, Michigan will be faced with the challenge of replacing two starters in that group in Vincent Gray and Daxton Hill, both of whom are off to the NFL.

Enter Johnson, an uber-talented cornerback who enrolled early with hopes of making an immediate impact in 2022.

"It helps that there’s a need in Ann Arbor," Hummer wrote. "Johnson is a safe bet to be in the rotation and he could easily end up starting."

Hummer also points out that recent history shows top-rated cornerback recruits tend to get on the field early.

The top-ranked cornerback prospect in the 2020 class, per 247Sports.com, was Kelee Ringo, who was responsible for the game-sealing interception in Georgia's win over Alabama in this year’s national championship game. The No. 1-ranked corner in the 2021 class was Alabama signee Kool-Aid McKinstry, who started five games for the Crimson Tide this season and was named to the SEC’s All-Freshmen Team.

Other Big Ten signees who appeared on the list include Nicholas Singleton (RB, Penn State), Nic Caraway (DL, Purdue), Moses Walker (LB, Rutgers) and Xavier Nwankpa (DB, Iowa).