Penn State loses elite four-star commit to SEC as early signing day approaches

On the brink of its first College Football Playoff appearance in program history, Penn State football has a lot to be thankful for, but the day after Thanksgiving also provided news for Penn State fans to be very frustrated about. On Friday, elite four-star edge rusher in the 2025 recruiting class Jayden Woods announced that he was flipping his commitment from Penn State to Florida. 

The 6-foot-3 240-pound edge rusher from Shawnee Kansas committed to the Nittany Lions back in June and rose in the recent rankings updates to become Penn State’s highest-ranked recruiting by 247Sports and third-highest by 247Sport’s composite rankings as the 130th-ranked player in the country. 

With four-star edge Max Granville reclassifying from 2025 to 2024 and arriving in Happy Valley for this season, Penn State was relying on Woods to headline its pass-rushing group in this year’s recruiting cycle. Now, just five days before the early national signing window, Woods is fleeing for the SEC as the Gators surge on the field and in recruiting under third-year head coach Billy Napier. 

Napier entered the season firmly on the hot seat and there was speculation that he sealed his fate with a Week 1 blowout loss to in-state rival Miami. However, Napier and five-star true freshman quarterback DJ Lagway have reached bowl eligibility at 6-5 with back-to-back wins over LSU and Ole Miss. Combined with a vote of confidence from the Florida Athletic Department, Napier has solidified his standing in Gainesville and has been very active on the recruiting trail. Woods will be Napier’s four-highest-ranked recruit by 247’s composite and his 17th-ranked class will likely jump the 15th-ranked Nittany Lions. 

Penn State does not have another player of Woods’s caliber at defensive end in this recruiting class, Franklin recently landed four-star Chaz Coleman from Warren, Ohio to join Woods and four-star Cortez Harris from Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Coleman has been a late-riser in the recruiting industry, now the 419th ranked player in the country and 14th best in Ohio by 247’s composite, so his commitment on November 10 helps to soften this blow. 

Franklin has been making a push to land in-state four-star edge Zahir Mathis, who de-committed from Ohio State on November 18, and this decision by Woods makes Mathis an even higher priority for the Nittany Lions. The 6-foot-6 225-pounder is the 75th-ranked player in the 2025 class and Woods’s decision to head south could be a sign that the Nittany Lions has considerable momentum in his recruitment.