Terrance Brooks is massive for Ohio State’s 2022 class.

With the expected losses of both Sevyn Banks and Cameron Brown at cornerback, the four-star from Little Elm, Texas could have followed in the footsteps of cornerback Denzel Burke, who made an impact on the football field as soon as he started his freshman season.

While Ohio State has some level of experience coming back, including Lejond Cavazos, who played 111 snaps in eight games as a redshirt freshman, and Jordan Hancock, that second cornerback position remains wide open heading into 2022, seemingly set up perfectly for a cornerback like Burke — built at 6-foot, 190 pounds — to take over.

Ohio State will not have that chance.

At his signing day ceremony Wednesday morning, Brooks flipped from Ohio State to Texas, a rumor that had been circulating in and around the Brooks camp in the days leading up to his signing.

"I feel like it would be special for me," Brooks said at his signing day ceremony. "Special, just like home."

Brooks is not the first Little Elm cornerback Ohio State has lost this year either.

Redshirt freshman and former 2019 four-star cornerback Ryan Watts announced Friday that he would be entering the transfer portal after playing 49 snaps for the Buckeyes in his season-opening start against Minnesota, while not recording more than 18 snaps in his five games played the rest of the 2021 season.

With Brooks officially off to Austin, there’s a glaring hole at a position the Buckeyes were not expecting to have.

Other than Brown and Banks, Ohio State does not have a cornerback on its roster with more than two seasons of experience. Even with that Cavazos, Hancock, and former 2021 four-star Jakailin Johnson combined for 150 snaps at cornerback this season.

Ohio State had a chance at one after being in the mix for LSU transfer and former 2020 five-star cornerback Elias Ricks, someone who is no longer in the running for the Buckeyes per reports.

Early Wednesday morning, Ohio State secured its other two members of the cornerbacks room: four-star Ryan Turner and four-star Jyaire Brown. Both are built similarly to Brooks, standing at 6-feet, 185 pounds and are No. 19 and No. 17, respectively, in the country at cornerback.

But Brooks was seemingly different.

He was a bit more refined, coming in five pounds heavier and nine spots higher than Brown in the 2022 cornerback rankings.

So what’s next for Ohio State at cornerback?

As changes come to Ohio State’s defensive coaching staff, new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles will have to make it a priority to develop a cornerback alongside Burke, one without a lot of experience.

Heading into 2022, especially for this pass defense, cornerback has to be a priority.

Ohio State finished the 2021 season with the third-worst pass defense in the Big Ten, allowing an average of 246.9 passing yards per game and 6.8 yards per pass attempt, while opposing quarterbacks completed an average of 60.6% of their pass attempts.

Would Brooks have fixed that? It’s no guarantee. But with the success Burke had, you had to think that he would have had a shot from day one.

Now what should be an exciting day leaves more questions for a position that Ohio State must find answers in for 2022.