By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Xavier Nwankpa made history when he decided to stay home and play for the Iowa football team.

The 2022 graduate of Southeast Polk High School has the distinction of being the highest rated recruit in the Kirk Ferentz era, which is mentioned in Nwankpa’s profile in Iowa’s weekly notes.

Nwankpa had multiple power five scholarship offers as a five-star recruit and he ultimately picked Iowa over Ohio State, much to the joy of Hawkeye fans.

But with all the hype and support from appreciative fans, there is also a burden and a downside to being so highly decorated in that people can get carried away with their expectations.

Nwankpa has been under a microscope since he became a Hawkeye with his every move scrutinized by fans and by the media.

So, when he was beat on a 75-yard touchdown pass against Iowa State, and then replaced by Koen Entringer for the rest of the game, fans and the media jumped all over it, wondering if Nwankpa was in danger of losing his starting position.

Nwankpa already gets substituted for when Iowa shifts to a 4-3 defensive alignment, and he’s third in the pecking order at safety behind graduates Sebastian Castro and Quinn Schulte.

But as it turns out, Nwankpa wasn’t demoted.

He stumbled against Iowa State, and he has yet to achieve the level of stardom that many probably assumed he would because of his high recruiting ranking.

But what he has continued to do is compete and embrace the grind, and now his persistence is starting to pay dividends, considering how well Nwankpa played in this past Saturday’s 40-16 victory over Washington at Kinnick Stadium.

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Nwankpa had 10 tackles, including a team-high seven stops, many of which were in space against shifty skill players.

Former Iowa offensive coordinator Don Patterson called it Nwankpa’s best game as a Hawkeye on Monday’s Hawk Fanatic radio show and podcast.

Patterson praised Nwankpa’s physicality and his aggressiveness against the Huskies.

“I was so impressed with his tackling,” Patterson said. “He played an outstanding game.”

Nwankpa also deserves praise for his resiliency and for his team-first attitude because some players in his position might have resented being benched, even if was for just a couple quarters.

If anyone had the right to be a prima-donna when they joined the Iowa team, it would have been Nwankpa due to his enormous recruiting hype.

But he hasn’t shown any signs of wanting preferential treatment, at least not publicly.

Nwankpa is a young man of few words when speaking with the media. He seems almost uncomfortable talking about himself, which might be from all the hype and attention that he received in high school because sometimes the spotlight can be overwhelming for elite recruits.

The bar was set incredibly high for Xavier Nwankpa, and some will say that he has yet to approach that bar.

Okay. Maybe so.

But on the other hand, Nwankpa has started 18 games and played in 32 games overall as a Hawkeye.

He also made no excuses for his blunder against Iowa State.

He just moved on, which is really all he could do.

And if he keeps playing at the level he played against Washington, the bar that was set so high will start to be within reach.