Penn State football misses after emerging as ‘serious contender’ for top 2025 WR

After watching the Blue-White Game for the Penn State football team it’s clear that wide receiver is an area of concern. With KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Malick Meiga entering the transfer portal early this week the Nittany Lions are down two scholarship WRs. Julian Fleming, Harrison Wallace, and Kaden Saunders appear to be up next but what about the future? The Nittany Lions emerged this week as a team to watch in potentially landing WR Adrian Wilson from the 2025 recruiting class. But as easily as Wilson popped up on Penn State’s radar, he just as quickly faded away, committing to Arizona State Friday night.

Penn State football misses after emerging as ‘serious contender’ for top 2025 WR

Adrian Wilson is a consensus four-star recruit wide receiver in the 2025 recruiting class. According to On3, Wilson is from Pflugerville, TX, and ranks as the No. 17 WR in the 2025 cycle. His recruitment was shut down until the end of March. Now, Wilson continues to search for his perfect college fit.

Wilson initially made his commitment to a new Big Ten opponent in 2o24 the Oregon Ducks on July 29th, 2023. But he recently decommitted on March 26th, 2024. Penn State football made an offer to Wilson in October of 2023 and now they have emerged as a contender.

According to Chad Simmons of On3 “4-star WR Adrian Wilson was at one time committed to Oregon, but now, schools like  Arizona State, Penn State, South Carolina, and TAMU [Texas A&M]  have emerged as serious contenders.”

But since that report, Penn State has missed on Wilson, who made his commitment official to Arizona State on Friday night.

🚨NEW🚨 4-star WR Adrian Wilson has committed to Arizona State🔱

Read: https://t.co/blQuqOfl1M pic.twitter.com/rmkdxz6tTH

— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) April 20, 2024

Reviewing the 2025 recruiting class for Penn State

Penn State has the No. 8 recruiting class nationally in 2025 according to 247Sports. The most recent commit for the Nittany Lions was four-star running back Alvin Henderson who made his pledge on April 11th. At wide receiver, Penn State has one commit in the 2025 recruiting class and that’s Lyrick Samuel.

If James Franklin and his coaching staff want to compete over the next several seasons, the wide receiver recruiting and development needs to take a step up. That task lies with WR coach Marques Hagans and missing on Adrian Wilson is another domino off the board. Penn State will have to look elsewhere for more talent.

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