2019 Rhode Island OL Emerging As Top Prospect

Xavier Truss‍ may be from the smallest state in the Union, but the Rhode Island offensive lineman is emerging as one of the biggest prospects in the Class of 2019.

The 6-foot-7, 325-pounder from Warwick, R.I., already has offers from big-time schools like Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida, Oregon, Maryland, Boston College and Rutgers among others.

“It’s a crazy feeling,” Truss said of all of the early attention. “It’s really overwhelming. It hasn’t hit me. It’s come so fast, it’s kind of hard to comprehend and take all of it in.

“They like my mixture of size, speed, strength. There is some stuff I have to work on, but that’s the big three coaches have talked to me about. They’ve said it’s hard to come across people my size.”

He hasn’t received an offer from Notre Dame yet, but the Irish have been in contact.

“I’ve heard from a few recruiting coaches,” said Truss. “It’s only been brief. They just wanted to see how I was, asked for my transcripts and stuff like that.”

Notre Dame is a school in which the Bishop Hendricken star would have serious interest.

“I definitely think it’s an elite school both academically and on the playing field,” Truss said. “I’d definitely love to attend a college like that, with the status Notre Dame has. Being a religious college and an independent college too, I definitely like that.”

It’s also a school he would love the chance to visit.

“I’d definitely want to see the stadium and I would like to see the size of the campus,” he said.

He’s only taken a couple visits to date.

“Penn State and Boston College have been my only two college visits,” he said. “Penn State was crazy. I liked the big campus, big stadium. Everybody is nice and friendly, I definitely like that. Boston College is only a 40-minute drive, so I definitely like getting up there to see some games, the campus is nice up there.”

He will be hitting the road in the months to come.

“I’m going to the Penn State spring game and then I’m going to take some visits to Michigan and Ohio State this year, but no plans at this time,” he said.

He’ll likely wait until the fall to take his officials.

“I kind of want to take my official visits to games, so I can kind of see what the game atmosphere is kind of like there and what the stadium is like with all of the fans in it and I can get a feel for what it would be like to play there,” he said.

Still, an off-the-field factor will be the biggest when it comes time to make a decision.

“Definitely academics first. I want to get the most out of my education while I’m there for four years, so big, big academic schools.”