College Football: Massive News As Penn State Flips 2025 Four-star Wide Receiver Commit

The Hokies lost a key piece to their 2025 recruiting class.

The past 48 hours have been challenging for the Virginia Tech football team and head coach Brent Pry. On Saturday, the Hokies suffered a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores, which was particularly disappointing given the preseason excitement surrounding the team.

On Monday, matters got worse when four-star wide receiver Matthew Outten, who had committed to Virginia Tech earlier this summer, switched his commitment to Penn State. Outten, a standout from Norcom High School in Portsmouth, VA, was one of three four-star wide receivers in Tech’s 2025 recruiting class.

Fans might think that the loss to Vanderbilt and Penn State’s strong performance against West Virginia influenced Outten’s decision, but the Nittany Lions never stopped pursuing him. Pry’s former boss, James Franklin, has been recruiting Outten since June and finally succeeded.

It seems Outten wasn’t quite as “1000% committed” as he claimed on X after pledging to the Hokies.

It’s understandable why Outten chose Penn State over Virginia Tech, especially since the two programs are in different places right now. The results from last weekend likely had no bearing on his decision.

This is a tough blow for the Hokies, especially as another top Virginia prospect opts to leave the state. Outten is an excellent player, but the silver lining is that Virginia Tech still has two four-star commits in Micah Matthews and Snoop Peterkin. Plus, they have promising freshmen receivers like Brodie Adams and Chanz Wiggins on the roster. Nonetheless, it still stings.

The Hokies will aim to bounce back when they host Marshall this weekend.