Tag: Kiandrea Barker

Class of 2025 RB with Wisconsin offer decommits from Penn State

Class of 2025 RB with Wisconsin offer decommits from Penn State

Class of 2025 running back Kiandrea Barker decommitted from Penn State on Tuesday, per an announcement via social media.

Wisconsin was one of the numerous programs on his offer sheet before he committed to Penn State in April 2023. The Badgers are on the list along with Arkansas, Auburn, Colorado, Florida State, Miami, Ole Miss and USC.

The Badgers extended their offer to the 5-foot-11, 185-pound running back on May 5, 2023, one month after he committed to Penn State.

On3’s recruiting prediction machine lists Arkansas as the only other program in contention to land Barker’s commitment, though that may change now that he is again uncommitted.

247Sports ranks the three-star running back as the No. 735 player in the class of 2025, No. 55 running back and No. 8 recruit from his home state of Arkansas.

Barker noted on X that he is “still considering Penn State” despite reopening his recruitment.

Wisconsin does not have a running back committed to its class of 2025. The Badgers finished the 2024 cycle with three players at the position: four-star Darrion Dupree, four-star Dilin Jones and three-star Gideon Ituka.

 

Penn State loses longtime commitment in 2025 recruiting class

Penn State lost a key running back commitment from its Class of 2025, at least for now.

As Penn State continues to get ready for the upcoming season that is now under three weeks away, things continue to happen on the recruiting trail.

The 2025 class has been a roller coaster for the Nittany Lions, getting some high-profile out of state prospects, but also failing to land some of the best players in the state of Pennsylvania.

It has also seen some flips occurring, with Penn State seeing some players leaving the group, but also gaining one of their own.

On Tuesday, the Nittany Lions lost another player who was committed to them after three-star running back [autotag]Kiandrea Barker[/autotag] announced he is now opening up his recruitment.

Barker had been part of Penn State’s 2025 recruiting class since he committed to them back in April 2023 shortly after attending the Blue-White Game.

He chose the Nittany Lions over some other high-profile Power 4 schools like Florida State, Miami, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, SMU and UCF.

In his statement, he said that he is still considering Penn State as he opens up his recruitment again, but for now, they are now down to two running back commitments in the current cycle.

Barker now becomes the second running back to decommit from the Nittany Lions, following Alvin Henderson who flipped his decision to Auburn. That allowed [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] and his staff to bring in four-star [autotag]Jabree Wallace-Coleman[/autotag] to keep the number at three, but they are now back down to two commits at that position.

There’s no indication Penn State will be looking for another running back at this point in time to join this class, or that they will continue to recruit Barker following his decommitment.

The Nittany Lions now have 23 recruits in their 2025 class.

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SEC program in hot pursuit of Penn State commit

Penn State may have to fend off pressure from this SEC school to keep this commitment on the board.

The thing about recruiting is that it’s really never over until the prospects are officially signed and enrolled at the school, no matter if they’ve given a commitment or not.

Prospects get flipped all the time, especially in this NIL era where money is now legally allowed to get thrown at recruits.

Penn State is currently in the process of trying to flip top instate quarterback [autotag]Matt Zollers[/autotag] back to their program even though he’s already committed to Missouri, but they’re going to have to fend off a program who is heavily going after their four-star running back commit.

According to Hunter Shelton of On3, Auburn is still heavily pursuing [autotag]Alvin Henderson[/autotag] who committed to the Nittany Lions back on April 11.

The Alabama native is listed as the 55th overall player in the 2025 class by ESPN and the fourth-best running back. It was a huge win for Penn State to land someone of this caliber out of state.

But, Henderson is coming off a recent visit to Auburn and there are many people who follow recruiting who believe he is going to wind up staying at home and playing for the Tigers.

“I believe a lot of people close to his recruitment — including myself — believe he’s going to end up at Auburn. Auburn has prioritized him for years, even when Hugh Freeze and Derrick Nix came on. It was kind of a surprise when he committed to Penn State, at least in the days leading up to his commitment,” Auburn insider Jeffrey Lee said on “Inside the Scoop.”

Henderson isn’t the only running back in Penn State’s class as they have two other commitments from [autotag]Tiqwai Hayes[/autotag] and [autotag]Kiandrea Barker[/autotag], but losing him would be a major blow to how strong their 2025 cycle would be on paper.

It will be interesting to see what ultimately comes of this.

The Nittany Lions are schedule to have him on campus for an official visit on June 14 with a chance to firmly lock down his commitment and move him closer to signing.

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Penn State’s 2025 football commitment tracker

We have an updated football commitment tracker for Penn State following Monday’s latest commitment.

Penn State got off to a fast start with assembling its Class of 2025 on the recruiting trail. James Franklin and his staff quickly put together a class ranking in the top 10 of the national recruiting rankings even before the Class of 2024 was wrapping up for good. An early focus on defense was noticeable with Penn State’s recruiting plans for the Class of 2025 and some key players from neighboring states were among the early highlights of the recruiting class.

We will be keeping tabs on the Penn State Class of 2025 all the way through the recruiting cycle up until the commitments sign with Penn State. Should there be any players backing off their commitment, we will track their status as well as their recruiting process plays out.

This tracker will be updated as necessary, with the most recent update being made on February 20, 2024.

Penn State gets commitment from 2025 3-star RB Tiqwai Hayes

Whiteout effect? Penn State received a second commitment in as many days after the whiteout game.

The White Out Game on Saturday was not only a big event on the field, but it’s also one of the most important recruiting weekends on the year for [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] and their staff.

They’ve used that game as a big selling point to players across the country they are recruiting.

The gameday atmosphere, the nationally televised game, and the overall spectacle is a huge factor when swaying prospects to the Penn State program.

The Nittany Lions were able to land a four-star 2025 linebacker after the game and now have added another player in that class with a commitment from a three-star instate running back.

[autotag]Tiqwai Hayes[/autotag] announced his commitment to Penn State on social media Monday. He livestreamed the event on his personal Instagram account and posted his announcement.

Hayes is a 5’10” 190 pound running back from Aliquippa, PA. He’s accumulated over 3,700 yards and 56 touchdowns as an underclassmen in high school.

He chose Penn State over Ohio State, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Maryland, Michigan State, West Virginia and Cincinnati.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CxoI51-SBpO/

On3’s Industry Rankings has him ranked as the 10th overall player in the state of Pennsylvania and the number 29 running back.

“I visited everywhere and nothing is like Penn State. I love the crowd, obviously. Their education is also top tier,” Hayes told BlueWhiteIllustrated. “They’re RBU, they’re the Lawn Boyz. They always have successful seasons. I’m excited to be part of that.”

As a freshman, he earned 4A Player of the Year honors for Pennsylvania and has been a top producer for Aliquippa, who was in the state championship last season.

He’s the fourth player committed to Penn State in the class of 2025. He’s the second running back joining [autotag]Kiandrea Barker[/autotag].

Hayes also told Ryan Snyder of BlueWhiteIllustrated that he’ll now be recruiting other players to join the class, saying, “Oh, I’ll be after a lot of guys. They got to come here. How could you not? All the dogs need to come play with us.”

It’s been a good start for Penn State in the 2025 class as they look to potentially add more commitments after the White Out.

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Auburn offers 4-star RB committed to Penn State

Auburn has entered the race for Kiandrea Barker, one of the top running backs in the 2025 recruiting class.

Four-star running back [autotag]Kiandrea Barker[/autotag] may be committed to Penn State but [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag] and Auburn is still pursuing the 2025 prospect, extending him an offer to him Saturday.

From Beebe, Arkansas, he has been committed to the Nittany Lions since April 16 but Auburn is one of several schools that have kept up their pursuit of the 5-foot-11, 183-pounder.

He is the No. 239 overall player and No. 23 running back in the 247Sports Composite ranking. He is also the No. 38 player from Texas.

Auburn already has one commitment in the 2025 class in four-star defensive lineman [autotag]Malik Autry[/autotag].

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Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow JD on Twitter @jdmccarthy15.

Two from Penn State included in ESPN’s Top 300 recruiting ranking for 2025

ESPN released its Top 300 recruits for 2025, and these two Penn State commits made the cut.

The Class of 2024 is still half a year away from beginning to sign their letter of intent, but the eyes of the recruiting world are always looking to what comes next. On Tuesday, ESPN released its ESPN Junior 300 rankings for the first time to give a glimpse at how the recruiting staff at ESPN is evaluating the nation’s top junior talent around the country.

And Penn State has two of the top 300 players lined up in its Class of 2025 haul already.

Offensive tackle Jaelyne Matthews is Penn State’s highest-rated recruit in the Class of 2025 so far, and he is the first of the two commits to appear in ESPN’s top 300 ranking for 2025. Matthews checks in at no. 81 on the ESPN recruiting ranking with a four-star ranking.

Matthews now carries four-star ratings from four recruiting outlets with ESPN, On3, 247Sports, and Rivals all forming a unanimous four-star rating. And all four have Matthews as a top 100 player on their respective rankings with Rivals going as high as 53 and 247Sports going the lowest with 98th in the nation overall. Regardless, everyone seems to agree just how much of a win this commitment is for Penn State as it continues to build quality depth and strength on the offensive line through recruiting.

Matthews was Penn State’s first commit in the Class of 2025, continuing a recent trend of having a big offensive lineman be the first commit on the board for the program the past few years. Matthews, from Toms River, NJ, recently committed to play in the 2025 All-American Bowl. Matthews committed to Penn State in late January of this year.

The second of two commits to appear in ESPN’s top 300 ranking for the Class of 2025 is running back Kiandrea Barker, from The Woodlands, TX. Barker is a relatively new commit to the recruiting class, giving his verbal commitment to the Nittany Lions in mid-April. Barker is ranked 241st on ESPN’s recruit ranking with a four-star rating.

That gives Barker a consensus four-star rating with four-star grades from 247Sports, On3, and Rivals as well. The other three recruiting outlets do have higher overall rankings for Barker with Rivals going as high as 123rd in the nation and 247Sports and On3 ranking Barker 202nd and 217th, respectively.

See the full ESPN Junior 300 rankings to see what prospects are at the top.

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Badgers offer four-star running back committed to Penn State

Wisconsin offered Kiandrea Barker, a four-star class of 2025 running back who has already committed to Penn State.

Wisconsin offered Kiandrea Barker, a four-star class of 2025 running back who has already committed to Penn State. The 5-foot-11, 183-pound athlete shares the same hometown as three-star quarterback Mabrey Mettauer, who has committed to Wisconsin already.

Considering the fact that there is still two years before Barker would join a college program, Luke Fickell and Wisconsin still have a realistic shot at gaining his commitment if he decides to walk away from heading to State College.

The Badgers have had some of the best running backs in the nation over the past few decades and in recent years, stars like Jonathan Taylor and Braelon Allen have been in the backfield at Camp Randall.

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Recruiting Roundup: 7 four-star prospects make college commitments

It’s spring game season in college football and with it comes a busy time on the recruiting circuit.

It’s spring game season in college football and with it comes a busy time on the recruiting circuit.

This past weekend, over a dozen highly ranked high school football players from around the country announced their college commitments, including seven recruits with a four-star rating. Here’s a review of who they are and where they are going.

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Penn State football snapshot profile: RB Kiandrea Barker

Let’s take a look at a snapshot profile of 2025 four-star running back Kiandrea Barker.

Penn State continues to build their running back room into an impressive group of young players. In 2022, it was the Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen show. In 2023, London Montgomery will enter the mix of a talented running back room.

However, let’s jump ahead a few years into the class of 2025, where the Nittany Lions brought in a four-star commitment in [autotag]Kiandrea Barker[/autotag] out of Texas.

Barker had plenty of offers from around the country, including Florida State, Miami and Mississippi State.

But, Barker eventually made his way to State College, where he will enter a running back room that is full of youth.

The Nittany Lions lost Keyvone Lee to the transfer portal earlier in the offseason, and Devyn Ford has stepped away from the team.

So, that leaves Penn State with a limited running back room that they have done an impressive job building back up.

Let’s take a look at the profile of Kiandrea Barker.