After taking a week off for our massive Southern Swing trip, we are back with yet another edition of Recruiting Roundtable.

There is plenty to discuss in this piece as BuckeyeGrove goes in-depth on some current topics related to Ohio State recruiting.

Read the piece down below to get our reaction to the Buckeyes adding Kye Stokes to their class this past weekend. Carson MacRae and Joseph Hastings also reveal which commit they believe deserves a bump in the next rankings update, and predict how many defensive backs the staff will ultimately end up signing.

MacRae: This is a great pickup for the Buckeyes and their staff. It has almost felt a little overdue that the Buckeyes were to land a commitment. Recently, following a string of commits from Georgia and LSU, the Buckeyes have fallen in the Rivals.com recruiting rankings down to third.

Now, this commitment doesn't move them back up as Stokes is only a three-star prospect, but this feels like a major win for the staff.

Stokes released his junior tape just a couple of weeks ago and, since then, he has earned over five Power Five offers in the span of that time. Stars are always a good indicator of talent and what you're getting but it should never be looked past that the Buckeyes have had a lot of success in recruiting players who are three-stars out of high school, such as elite wide receiver Chris Olave.

Stokes is going to be seen as a safety when coming into the Ohio State program.

As seen on tape, Stoke has great speed, is a physical defender and has excellent ball recognition. With Ohio State incorporating the “Bullet” position back into the defense, it becomes imperative that the safeties they are recruiting can be left on an island to make plays in Cover 1.

Stokes is a long 6-foot-2 and has the speed you're looking for in an over-the-top, read-first defender. Major win for the Buckeyes on this one as he was rising up other teams’ recruiting boards fast.

Hastings: To say I was surprised when Kye Stokes told us on Friday that he will be committing to Ohio State is an understatement.

I received somewhat of a lead to go to the school, but I was not expecting him to say that he would be joining the class this soon.

For one, Stokes just landed an offer from the Buckeyes back on April 26. This comes on the heels of schools like Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Notre Dame offering him in the past three weeks.

With his recruitment just blowing up, I thought Stokes was going to wait things out, take his visits, and then make a decision.

Also, I initially suspected that Ohio State may have wanted to see Stokes in person prior to him committing. This does not surprise me too much, however, as COVID-19 limitations have led to them accepting over a dozen commitments in the past year without evaluating a prospect in person.

So, to answer the question, I was a little bit surprised by how soon the announcement was made, but I can see why Ohio State allowed him to join the class this early.

Stokes is a kid with a 3.5 GPA, will graduate with over 60 college credit hours under his belt, and has high character. Also, as Carson illustrated above, he has all the physical tools a free safety needs at the next level, and he will be able to cover a lot of ground with his speed and length.

Both on and off the field, this is a great pickup for Ryan Day and Company.

MacRae: In my personal opinion, Bennett Christian is the most deserving of a recruiting bump. Christian's junior tape shows that he has reliable hands and the physical capabilities to be a starting tight end at the next level.

Christian is an enormous 6-foot-6, 235 pounds, as listed by Rivals.com, but I would argue he is looking closer to 245. With those attributes and what he has displayed on film, it is very surprising to see he does not have his fourth star yet.

When looking at Christian as a run blocker, he has a very low center of gravity for his size. At the high school level, he may be arguably one the best run blocking tight ends I have witnessed at the high school level.

On tape, you will see he gets second level with ease after moving weak-side edge rushers to create holes for his running backs. As well, Christian has a blatant mean streak, something you don't often see in tight ends. There are often players at his position who are great pass catchers but struggle to support in the blocking game.

There are currently many ranked ahead of Christian, who do not have the full skill package that he possesses both in the air game and the blocking game. If anyone is worthy of a recruiting bump, it is Christian.

Hastings: I am going to cheat on this one and provide two answers.

My first answer will be the one Carson provided. Christian is ranked as Rivals.com’s No. 33 tight end, and I absolutely believe he is deserving of getting a bump.

Christian has prototypical size for the position, and will be very valuable as he can essentially be a sixth offensive lineman for his team. He’s also got solid hands as well, and I believe Kevin Wilson and company can develop him into a legitimate threat in their aerial attack.

While he has not been able to be present on the camp circuit and will not put up big numbers on the stat sheet, Christian should absolutely climb up the positional rankings for 2022 tight ends.

The next answer is actually the newest addition to Ohio State’s 2022 class. Stokes is a three-star with a 5.6 Rivals Rating, but his recent slate of offers and commitment to the Buckeyes should shine a light on him in this rankings evaluation process.

I do want to be clear that offers from quality football programs do not guarantee that a prospect will rise up in the rankings. But, however, they can lead to a recruit getting a more thorough look by our team.

On the film, we think that they will see a 6-foot-2, 180-pounder who can get from one spot of the field to the next quick and in a hurry. Stokes has primarily played wide receiver and thus has exceptional hands, has long arms, can jump routes to pick off passes, and is a playmaker on the field.

Our evaluation crew has not met just yet, but I could absolutely see Stokes earning his fourth star next month, and that conversation is something that’s being discussed as we speak.

MacRae: This is a pretty tough question to determine because if you asked me earlier, I would have most likely said four or five. With the unexpected news of Kye Stokes’ commitment, this changes things a little bit.

The way I see it as it stands right now, the Buckeyes are in a good place with Ryan Turner; in fact, I recently put in a FutureCast for the program to land him.

In the back-end of the air traffic control team, Stokes is being considered a safety and the Buckeyes are still, as it stands right now, top contenders for both Xavier Nwankpa and Zion Branch.

Nwankpa is definitely still the priority target at the position, which leads me to believe Branch could cool on the Buckeyes if Nwankpa decides to commit following his official visit the first weekend of June.

I recently spoke to some sources that are pretty close to Nwankpa, and it still seems like you're going to have to beat the Buckeyes to win this recruitment as an outsider. He's really involved with the current class and has even spoken on behalf of the program to 2023 prospect Kadyn Proctor, who is also his high school teammate and Rivals.com’s No. 1 offensive tackle.

When looking at where this defensive back class ends up, they will have Jaheim Singletary, Jyaire Brown, Kye Stokes, Xavier Nwankpa, and Ryan Turner, in my opinion. There are always the possibilities of Zion Branch, Toriano Pride, Austin Jordan, Jake Pope, Jayden Bellamy, and Ephesians Prysock, but I am not as sold on them yet as being all in.

With the five names I listed above of who I believe ends up in the class, I envision one more player getting added to that group to make it six in total. If I had to pick, Prysock is the guy to round out this defensive back class.

Hastings: The answer to this question can vary from month to month. It ultimately depends on how the class fill out and what the numbers will look like close to the Early Signing Period, which is tough to predict at this time.

In my opinion, the safest answer would be five, with the class consisting of the current defensive back pledges, as well as Ryan Turner and Xavier Nwankpa. Both are viewed as Ohio State leans, and they could very much end up committing to the program shortly after their official visits in June.

If this happens, it is difficult to say how this would affect their pursuit of the other players on their board. Would Pride want to join a cornerbacks class that already features three players at the position? Is Branch fine with being the third safety, or does he want to go to a school where he is the main guy?

My stance on cornerbacks is that they would probably be done with Brown, Singletary and Turner in the fold, but I would not be surprised if they could get another safety in.

Kerry Coombs and Matt Barnes could sell their targets on the fact that they need players to man the back-end of the secondary, and that it isn’t a guarantee Stokes or Nwankpa would be pure safeties.

Stokes is versatile enough to take snaps at corner, and Nwankpa has the physicality to play the coveted “Bullet” position in their defense. This could be a compelling argument, so I would not rule out a third safety in this class.

The likeliest answer here is five, but let’s see how the dominos fall this summer.

Stay tuned to BuckeyeGrove.