Iowa Football: Top 3 Way-Too-Early Breakout Candidates for 2022

Xavier Nwankpa, DB

Even though Iowa football still has both of their starters at cornerback in Jermari Harris and Riley Moss, as well as their returning safety Kaevon Merriweather, with three starters from a year ago departing from the program, including free safety, Jack Koerner, there’s still a massive hole to fill in the secondary opposite of Merriweather.

While the obvious choice might be junior safeties Quinn Schulte, or Sebastian Castro. It’s worth keeping an eye on the incoming Iowa native and five-star recruit, Xavier Nwankpa, who actually played alongside our other breakout candidate, Gavin Williams, at Southeast Polk High School.

Nwankpa was the 5th-ranked safety in the 2022 recruiting class, and the top recruit in the entire state of Iowa. He also carries exceptional size at 6’2″, 200-pounds, and is the Hawkeyes’ first five-star commit since defensive end, A.J. Epenesa in 2017.

Furthermore, he’s also a two-time All-Iowa Elite Team recipient by the Register, and helped lead the Rams to their first Class 5A state championship in school history just last season. Which resulted in him being one of the nation’s most sought-after recruits in 2021.

The former track star possesses the physicality and athleticism to make plays across all three levels on defense drawing comparisons to the NFL All-Pro safety, Derwin James.

Quinn Schulte is currently slotted to start at free safety in 2022, which makes sense given that he’s backed up Koerner the last few years. But Nwankpa is undoubtedly the most talented up-and-comer on the roster, with many expecting him to be an NFL lottery pick when the time comes.

We will have to see how the rest of spring training pans out, but don’t be shocked if Xavier Nwankpa steals the spotlight in 2022.