Tag: Omari Gaines

Penn State loses commitment from class of 2025 safety

Penn State recently lost a commitment in its Class of 2025.

It can be a blessing or a curse to have players committed to a program early on and Penn State is experiencing the latter situation right now.

They lost the commitment from [autotag]Omari Gaines[/autotag] on March 1, who was the longest-committed player in the class of 2025.

Gaines is a 6’2″ 185-pound safety from New Jersey.

The three-star is listed as the 19th-best player in the state by On3’s Industry Rankings and the 43rd overall safety.

He was originally the second commitment for the Nittany Lions in the class, following fellow in-state prospect Jaelyne Matthews, but now both are no longer hold commitments.

Gaines did not visit Happy Valley during the open period in January, suggesting to many that this decision might be coming.

He gained some additional offers from other schools prior to reopening his recruitment.

In a conversation with Adam Friedman of Rivals, he spoke more in depth about his decision to decommit from Penn State.

“After talking with my family a lot, I felt like I had to really explore everywhere just to make sure the decision I make for the next four years is like really 100% and authentic,” he said.

Gaines then revealed some other schools who have been in contact with him recently, naming Maryland, Rutgers, Stanford, Pittsburgh and more.

Following he decommitment, he’ll be looking to ramp up his recruiting process again and has plans to visit schools across the country to get a feel for other places.

There’s still a chance that Gaines could return to Penn State, but that seems unlikely at this point.

While it’s certainly a bummer to lose a commit, this also opens up another spot in the secondary for the Nittany Lions to potentially sway others targets they’ve continued to communicate with.

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 in Top 8 for 2025 cornerback target

Penn State finds itself among the top schools for this Class of 2025 cornerback target from New Jersey.

With the class of 2024 recruiting almost finished for Penn State, it’s time to turn their attention over to the class of 2025. There are already three commitments secured for the Nittany Lions in the class with two of them being four-stars and one a three-star.

There will still be a long way to go in the recruitment process of those three prospects as all of them are out of state players. It’s a great sign that the program has been able to secure commitments from these players, indicating a strong relationship between them and the coaching staff.

On Friday, another 2025 prospect announced that he is eyeing Penn State as his college football team. Three-star [autotag]Cameron Miller[/autotag] released his top eight schools heading into the fall. Listed as a cornerback in the recruiting databases, he also plays wide receiver in high school.

Among Penn State, others on the list include Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Illinois, West Virginia, Syracuse and Rutgers.

The 5’10” 165 pound cornerback is from New Jersey. Two of the three Penn State commitments in the class of 2025, [autotag]Jaelyne Matthews[/autotag] and [autotag]Omari Gaines[/autotag], are also from New Jersey.

On3’s industry rankings have Miller rated as a four-star prospect even though all four of the major recruiting services have him as a three-star.

Penn State was the first school who offered Miller back in August 2021 before he even played a single snap of high school football. He received 20 scholarship offers from schools before cutting his list down to eight.

On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine has the Nittany Lions as the favorites to land the cornerback. They’re sitting with a 68.2% chance, while Michigan is second with a 68.2% chance.

He’s visited Penn State the most of any school with six unofficial visits. The only other schools he’s visited are Georgia and Michigan once.

“My relationship with Coach Smith is great,” Miller told BlueWhiteIllustrated. “He’s a very upfront dude that loves the game of football. What makes him unique is that he uses all of his guys. Some coaches may have a select few, but with Coach Smith, he gets everyone playing time if you’re ready.”

It’s a good start in the recruitment process for a player who seems to be trending towards four-star status.

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Penn State’s 2025 football commitment tracker

Penn State got an early jump on its Class of 2025. Updated commitment tracker.

Some say it’s never too early to get a jump on a recruiting class, especially if the right player is sitting there for the getting. Penn State doesn’t usually pile up commitments two years in advance, but it did get an early jump on the Class of 2025 with a January 2023 commitment from offensive tackle [autotag]Jaelyne Matthews[/autotag] from New Jersey.

And with that, the Class of 2025 was officially underway. We’re keeping track of every commitment to Penn State in the Class of 2025, and we’ll keep tabs on any player who ends up backing off a commitment if necessary.

This tracker will be updated as necessary, with the most recent update being made on April 17, 2023.

Penn State gets 2025 commitment from three-star safety Omari Gaines

Penn State picked up its second football commit in the Class of 2025 with New Jersey safety Omari Gaines announcing his commitment.

Penn State is still hard at work putting together its recruiting class for 2024, but the work being done on the [autotag]Class of 2025[/autotag] is also paying off early on as well. On Tuesday, Penn State added a second commitment to the 2025 class with safety [autotag]Omari Gaines[/autotag] announcing his verbal commitment to the Nittany Lions.

Gaines chose Penn State over offers from West Virginia, Temple, Michigan State, Ole Miss, Duke, and more. The 6′-3″ 175-pound safety is ranked by Rivals as the 14th-best player overall in the state of New Jersey, which is always a big recruiting state for Penn State. Penn State may have scored Gaines before the heat really turns up on his recruiting. Rivals is the only recruiting service with a ranking for him at the moment, but he did make the NJ.com top 50 as a sophomore in 2022, so he’s stock will certainly be on the rise during his upcoming junior season.

Penn State extended an offer to Gaines in April 2022 while Gaines and his family visited the campus. He was among the prospective student-athletes who made a visit to Penn State last weekend. Gaines has previously visited Penn State for a 7-on-7 tournament and a future visit should be expected as he continues to go through the recruiting process even after a commitment.

Gaines is the second commit in Penn State’s Class of 2025 at the moment. He joins Jaelyne Matthews, a four-star offensive tackle from Toms River, New Jersey.

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