Penn State football’s first commit of the 2025 recruiting cycle is staying in the Big Ten.
Early Monday afternoon, offensive tackle Jaelyne Matthews announced at a ceremony in his high school gym that he had committed to Rutgers.
Rutgers lands ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ OT Jaelyne Matthews from Toms River, NJ!!! Massive get for the Scarlet Knights!!! Let’s gooo!!! Go Rutgers!!!🪓🪓🪓 @RutgersRivals @RFootball @RUAthletics @JaelyneMatthew3 @GregSchiano #rutgers pic.twitter.com/xb00ijJfD9
— Travis Holonics (@HolonicsTravis) June 11, 2024
Matthews committed to Penn State in late January 2023.
But throughout his recruitment, he continued to field offers from big-time schools such as Florida State, Georgia and Michigan. Eventually, last September, he de-committed from Penn State.
Interestingly enough, Matthews’ top three, which he revealed less than a week prior to his announcement, did not include the school he ended up committing to.
Matthews narrowed his list down to Miami, Georgia and Tennessee. But 247Sports reported this past Thursday that Rutgers “remains a viable option after he finished his official visit there Monday.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.It turned out, Rutgers impressed Matthews enough for him to commit.
This makes sense. Matthews, a four-star recruit who’s the No. 7 overall player in New Jersey according to 247Sports’ composite ratings, is a star at Toms River North High School, located in Toms River, New Jersey. Toms River is roughly an hour from Piscataway, which is where Rutgers is located.
Rutgers had also been in on Matthews’ recruitment for a while, having offered him in October 2021 when he was in the middle of his freshman season. Even with some of the biggest schools in America in pursuit, Rutgers kept close enough to Matthews to eventually land his commitment.
Now, it’s quite possible that Matthews will be lining up across from Penn State’s defensive line one day.
Penn State has Rutgers on the schedule in 2025, ‘26 and ‘28. Even with the Big Ten’s realignment, Penn State will play Rutgers more years than not, at least for now.
