Penn State football has gotten its first commitment of the 2025 recruiting class in four-star offensive tackle Jaelyne Matthews, Matthews announced Monday morning.
This commitment comes fresh off Matthews’s visit to Penn State as part of this weekends Junior Day.
While it’s referred to as Junior Day, that’s not entirely the case.
At this time of the year, college programs around the country recruits from all different grade classifications.
Penn State’s held one of these events in each of last three weeks and the most recent one has already benefitted the program.
Matthews announced Monday morning that he was closing down his recruitment and making a commitment to Penn State, picking coach James Franklin’s program over Ohio State, Miami, Georgia and Rutgers.
Matthews (6-foot-7, 295 pounds) is from Toms River North High School in New Jersey. Rivals.com currently ranks him as the No. 77 overall player in the Class of 2025. On3 has him as the No. 42 overall player, the No. 3 offensive tackle and the No. 1 sophomore in New Jersey.
Matthews picks Penn State despite having two full high school football seasons left. He told Nittany Sports Now via DM that he committed to Penn State because “when I’m there, it’s at home.”
Matthews told NSN that prior to this weekend, he didn’t go to State College with the intention of committing but made the decision after everything he experienced on his trip.
He said that joining Penn State “means everything to me.”
“This is the beginning of everything,” Matthews said. “Me graduating, then going there and then me hopefully going to the NFL.”
Credit Penn State offensive/defensive analyst and analytics coordinator Gabe Infante for playing a big role in the recruitment of Matthews. Infante joined the Penn State staff last year after an amazing run as head coach at St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia.
Infante left there with a 91-23 overall record and went 40-1 in his last 3 years.
Jaelyne Matthews is the first member of Penn State’s Class of 2025. In its 2024 Class, Penn State received commitments from 4-star offensive tackle Cooper Cousins and 4-star linebacker Anthony Speca.
