BREAKING: Penn State football beats Brent Pry, Manny Diaz for top 2 defensive lineman in Maryland

The Penn State football team is putting the finishing touches on the 2025 recruiting class. Entering today, the Nittany Lions held 21 verbal commits in the cycle. But, that changed on Wednesday afternoon when defensive lineman Yvan Kemajou committed to Penn State. As DL coach Deion Barnes continues to pay dividends on the recruiting trail securing Kemajou over prior Penn State assistants Brent Pry and Manny Diaz.

Yvan Kemajou is a 6-3 240-pound interior defensive lineman in the 2025 recruiting class. From Burtonsville (Maryland), Kemajou held offers from schools such as Rutgers, Virginia Tech (led by former Penn State DC Brent Pry), Duke (led by former Penn State DC Manny Diaz), Penn State, and many more.

On Wednesday afternoon, the three-star defensive lineman made his commitment official to the Penn State football team.

BREAKING: Four star DL Yvan Kemajou (@Yvan_Kemajou) (‘25) has committed to Penn State, he tells me. 🦁

He chose Penn State over schools such as, Rutgers, VTech, and Indiana.

Yvan is a top 20 DL in the COUNTRY and a top 10 PLAYER in the state of Maryland. #WeAre pic.twitter.com/ZmvpF1QIYO

— Leyton Roberts (@LeytonRoberts_) July 31, 2024

According to the On3 Industry Rankings, Kemajou is the No. 13 player in Maryland and the No. 42 DL in the 2025 recruiting class (No. 456 nationally). He took the most visits to Happy Valley (two) where all other schools visited once. His official visit to Penn State took place on May 31.

Both Sean Fitz and Ryan Snyder of Blue White Illustrated had RPM predictions in place of Kemajou choosing Penn State. On Wednesday those predictions became reality.

A new teammate for Randy Adirika

© Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

Deion Barnes has once again assembled a strong defensive line class in the 2025 cycle. It appeared even stronger before Max Granville was reclassified to the 2024 recruiting class. But with the addition of Yvan Kemajou, Randy Adirika now has a classmate to be paired with.

Adirikia is a three-star prospect and ranks as the No. 44 defensive lineman, and the No. 62 prospect in Florida, according to On3’s Industry Rankings. He made his commitment to Penn State on July 9 where he chose Penn State over Miami and USC.

He attends Miami Central (Florida) where he is teammates with current Nittany Lion QB commit Bekkem Kritza. Penn State now has 22 verbal commits in the 2025 cycle.

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