One of Penn State football’s Class of 2025 commits has an offer from Pitt.
Omari Gaines, a three-star, 6-foot-2, 180-pound ATH from Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark, New Jersey, announced the offer late Thursday afternoon.
Blessed to receive an offer from The University of Pittsburgh💙💛 #H2P #AGTG @CoachTimSalem @Coach_Manalac @KinslerLatish @coachnazoliver @BigBody_Nas8 @On3Recruits pic.twitter.com/orNwlLmOXR
— OmariGaines🎸 (@omarigaines_) December 14, 2023
Gaines has been committed to PSU since late March and got an offer in April 2022, when he was still a freshman.
Along with PSU and Pitt, Gaines has offers from schools such as Boston College, Duke, Ole Miss, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple and West Virginia. He was the second player to commit to Penn State’s ’25 Class, and since the first one, Jaeylne Matthews, de-committed, Gaines is the longest-reigning PSU ’25 commit.
Gaines visited Penn State the weekend before he committed and told 247Sports that the program gave him “nothing but love” every time he visited.
“The way the coaches are involved in the athletes’ life outside of football,” Gaines told 247, “every time I visit, I just gain more knowledge of the different aspects other than football at Penn State.”
Gaines has visited PSU multiple times. Per 247, he went to one of the school’s Junior Day events in January, the annual “Lasch Bash” in July 2022, a 7-on-7 tournament that June and another Junior Day that April.
Gaines also visited Penn State over the summer for its Elite Showcase III in late June 2023.
Pitt is the first school to offer Gaines since he committed to Penn State. Although it’s way too early to even suggest that Gaines will flip to Pitt, the thought of PSU losing to a commit to an in-state rival isn’t a pleasent one for PSU fans.
