Buckeyes Secure Tight End Bennett Christian in 2022 Class

Georgia native, whose father played at Tennessee, goes his own way and picks Ohio State over the Volunteers.

Ohio State continued growing its 2022 football class Tuesday evening, hearing a nice verbal commitment from tight end Bennett Christian out of Acworth, Ga. He was down to a pair of finalists, with the Scarlet and Gray lined up alongside Tennessee.

Christian, a standout for Allatoona High School down in the “Peach State,” gives the Buckeyes six total commits in the class and becomes the second out-of-state prospect. He joins recent commit Dasan McCullough (Overland Park, Kan.), a heralded athlete/outside linebacker who chose OSU on August 18.

“I felt like a big priority to the program,” Christian said. “It’s a place where I will be developed as a player and also a man. They can help take my skills to the next level. Coach Wilson and his staff have stressed me being a priority, so it’s made Ohio State stick out.”

The 6-foot-6, 235-pound Christian narrowed a dozen offers to just three over the summer. Ohio State and Penn State offered on June 2 and the Volunteers instantly came right back to extend a scholarship the following day. However, once the Nittany Lions secured their second tight end in the 2022 class, Bennett shrunk his preferences to the Buckeyes and Vols.

Due to the NCAA recruiting dead period still being in effect, the Christian family took it upon themselves to visit both schools in consecutive weekends. They got in the car and traveled to Columbus August 14-16, touring the campus and Columbus despite not being allowed to meet with any coaches or enter athletic facilities.

The ensuing weekend, Christian traveled to Knoxville where his father (Bill) played on the offensive line for Tennessee in the late 1970’s. Despite the family legacy, Bennett will be following his own college path as a Buckeye.

“It was a lot of prayer and decision making for my family,” Christian said. “These two schools had always been high on my list. They have good values, good fan bases and I felt a lot of love from both over this period of time.”

The other four 2022 commits are a quartet of Ohio standouts in linebacker Gabe Powers (Marysville), outside linebacker C.J. Hicks (Dayton), offensive lineman Tegra Tshabola (West Chester) and cornerback teammate Jyaire Brown (West Chester).

The Buckeyes will soon be welcoming a class of 2021 tight end in Sam Hart (Aurora, Colo.), who plans to enroll early come January.

Stay tuned to BuckeyesNow and all of our social media outlets (@BuckeyesNowSI) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for continued coverage!