No. 1 WR in PA explains ‘hard’ decision to pick SEC foe over Penn State football

On Thursday, the Penn State football team suffered a setback on the recruiting trail. A Nittany Lion target in the 2025 recruiting class-wide receiver and Pennsylvania native, Lex Cyrus shocked the nation when he chose South Carolina over Penn State. Following his commitment the speedy wideout explained his thought process behind choosing the Gamecocks.

When Lex Cyrus revealed his college football plans, many Penn State football fans were shocked by his decision. Cyrus had several predictions of landing with the Nittany Lions from recruiting experts such as Brian Dohn of 247Sports. However, he ended up choosing to leave the Keystone State to play his college football in South Carolina. Following his decision, he opened up about his thought process and decision-making timeline.

“It was a hard decision,” Cyrus said. “[Penn State’s] a great school and it’s great to be close with them. When I weighed out my options, South Carolina was where I wanted to be.”

Greg Pickel of Blue-White Illustrated also added that Cyrus indicated that the decision to choose South Carolina over Penn State was made in the last day or two. This is a tough blow for the Nittany Lions as another in-state prospect has left to play college football elsewhere.

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The 2025 recruiting class has been particularly interesting for the Penn State football team. While the Nittany Lions went on a run in June landing nine recruits in the 2025 and 2026 recruiting classes, they have suffered key losses with in-state prospects.

According to On3, Penn State has missed on the following prospects in Pennsylvania. Matt Zollers (No.1 in the state) to Missouri, legacy prospect Michael Carroll (No. 2 in the state) to Alabama, Zahir Mathis (No. 3 in the state) to Ohio State, Andrew Olesh (No. 4 in the state) to Michigan, and now Lex Cyrus (No. 7 in the state) to South Carolina).

The Nittany Lions have only two of the top ten prospects in the Keystone State committed to the program at this time. Now, Penn State sits with the No. 17 class in the 2025 recruiting class according to On3.

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