Penn State football used to have 12 players committed in its 2025 recruiting class.
It now has 11.
Omari Gaines, a three-star safety from Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark, New Jersey, had been committed to Penn State for almost a year.
But he announced via X (formerly Twitter) Friday morning that he’s no longer committed.
Please respect my decision. #AGTG 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/9PcWpHB9nU
— OmariGaines🎸 (@omarigaines_) March 1, 2024
Along with Penn State, Gaines had offers from schools such as Boston College, Duke, Ole Miss, Pitt, Rutgers, Stanford, Syracuse, Temple and West Virginia. For whatever it’s worth, Gaines retweeted a post from West Virginia football’s X account two days before he announced his de-commitment.
Welcome to Almost Heaven, @Coach_TBell! 👋
More info on our new defensive analyst → https://t.co/zFISYrrTSD#HailWV pic.twitter.com/V7PkW3RkYd
— West Virginia Football (@WVUfootball) February 27, 2024
Gaines was the second player who committed to Pen State in the 2025 class, with fellow New Jersey guy Jaylene Matthews, a four-star offensive tackle from Tom’s River North, being the first. Matthews de-committed in September, and with the Gaines news coming in, Kiandrea Barker, a four-star RB from the Woodlands School in Texas, is now Penn State’s longest active commit. Despite losing commitments from Matthews and Gaines, Penn State’s 2025 class still has a presence in New Jersey thanks largely to DJ McClary, a four-star LB from Henry Snyder High School in Jersey City. McClary announced his commitment in late September the day after Penn State’s White Out game against Iowa. Penn State’s New Jersey presence is also helped out by Khalil Ahmad, a recruiting coordinator who left and returned to Penn State over the offseason (more on that here).
Despite Gaines being out of the picture (at least for now), Penn State is still ahead of its 2024 pace with 11 commitments. The 2025 Class was ranked seventh in the country before Gaines’ de-commitment.
