Penn State loses four-star commitment to SEC school before early signing period
Programs around the country are counting down the days until Early National Signing Day, and for certain schools like Penn State, they have been thrust into a much busier situation than they would have liked with them trying to secure their commits and flip other targets on their board.
The Nittany Lions have multiple high-profile players there are pursuing in the 2025 class as they try to solidify another top unit in the national recruiting rankings, but as they get set for their matchup against Maryland, they were dealt some tough news.
[autotag]Jayden Woods[/autotag], the second-highest-ranked commit in their cycle, recently flipped his commitment to Florida after he had been part of Penn State’s class since June.
This came on the heels of him popping up on campus down in Gainesville for an official visit last weekend, something that is never a good sign this late in the process.
Woods, a four-star recruit and the No. 116 player in the 2025 class per On3’s Industry Rankings, made a huge leap in the updated national rankings that would have had put him as one of the best prospects for the Nittany Lions this cycle.
The Kansas native originally picked Penn State over Purdue and Tennessee back when he committed this past summer, and with a strong senior showing, he generated a ton of interests around the country.
Florida shored things up in their program when head coach Billy Napier was officially retained by their athletic director for next season amid all the speculation that he was going to be fired, so that has allowed the Gators to hit the recruiting trail hard.
This resulted in them pulling off this flip, something that stings for the Nittany Lions as they look to go after some of their own top targets.
Where Penn State goes from here will be seen.
Chaz Coleman, their most recent addition at the edge rusher position, is seen as someone who could blossom at the collegiate level when just focusing on the defensive side of the ball, and when he turned down a visit to Ohio State and will visit Penn State again this weekend instead, that likely solidified things.
Still, it’s never easy to see a commit flip, especially when it’s someone as talented as Woods.