Two of Penn State football’s three Class of 2025 commits are ranked in 247Sports’ first Top247 rankings of the 2025 cycle.
Jaelyne Matthews, the first player to commit to Penn State’s ’25 class, is the 98th-ranked player in the country, according to 247.
He’s also the No. 10 ’25 offensive tackle and the No. 3 overall player in New Jersey from his class.
Matthews, a four-star offensive tackle from Toms River High School in New Jersey, committed in January.
The 6-foot-7, 295-pounder spoke with Nittany Sports Now via direct message the day of his commitment before he announced it and said picking Penn State was the “beginning of everything.”
“Me graduating, then going there and then me hopefully going to the NFL,” Matthews told NSN.
The second Penn State ’25 commit in the Top247 is Kiandrea Barker, a four-star running back from the Woodlands School in Houston, Texas, who committed to Penn State during Blue-White weekend. Barker, listed at 5-foot-11 and 183 pounds, also spoke with NSN before he officially announced his commitment.
Penn State was the second Power Five school to offer Barker, doing so last April when he was still a freshman, so the school had been on Barker’s radar for a while. But a great Blue-White visit was what sealed the deal for him to decide to commit.
“They showed me love,” Barker told Nittany Sports Now the Saturday night after the Blue-White game, “and then they gave me my first big offer when I was in my freshman year and kept a mutual relationship ever since then.
“And from having the visit there and showing us the love that they showed us, it felt like it was the right thing to do.”
Barker played his first two high school seasons at Beebe High School in Arkansas. He officially announced his commitment this past Sunday evening.
247 also has him as the No. 17 running back in the country and the No. 30 overall player in Texas.
Penn State’s other Class of 2025 commit, Omari Gaines, didn’t make the Top247. Gaines was Penn State’s second ’25 commit. He’s an Adidas Freshman All-American from Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark, New Jersey.
Gaines announced the commitment via Twitter Tuesday, March 28.
Penn State offered Gaines last April. Gaines also has offers from Boston College, Delaware State, Duke, Ole Miss, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple and West Virginia.
