Penn State has another former four-star commit flip, this time to Big Ten rival

On Friday, former Penn State football commit Alvin Henderson, a four-star running back from Alabama, decided to stay home, flipping his commitment to Auburn. Then, on Sunday, four-star linebacker DJ McClary did the same. 

McClary had been committed to the Nittany Lions since September but nearly a month after his official visit to Rutgers at the end of May, Greg Schiano was able to get the New Jersey-native to change his mind. McClary is now the fifth four-star recruit for Rutgers which has a top-10 class in the country for 2025. 

Finally, in the NIL era, Rutgers' proximity to New York City is beginning to pay off. The Scarlet Knights have become a recruiting force in the Big Ten and poaching McClary is just another sign that Penn State may have real East Coast competition in a conference that is rapidly expanding westward. 

To offset Henderson and McClary both flipping, Penn State landed three commitments, Jabree Wallace-Coleman a four-star running back from Philadelphia, Cortez Harris a four-star edge rusher from Maryland, and Braswell Thomas a three-star safety from New Jersey. 

Tom Allen is currently developing Penn State’s young off-ball linebackers like Tony Rojas, Kaveion Keys, and Ta’Mere Robinson to compete for starting roles in 2024 and Penn State still has multiple linebacker commits in the 2025 class, Dayshaun Burnett and Alex Tatsch, but McClary’s flip still leaves a significant void.

Penn State's 2025 class now ranks 11th per 247Sports, two spots behind Rutgers. There are more commitments expected to come soon for the Nittany Lions which is good news because James Franklin needs to make a big splash in response.