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Penn State basketball picks up first Class of 2025 commitment

nate-mug-10.12.14by:Nate Bauer•06/26/24•

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Penn State has landed the verbal commitment of 7-foot center prospect Justin Houser in the Class of 2025. (Courtesy Justin Houser Instagram)

Penn State basketball has landed its first commitment for the Class of 2025. Justin Houser, a 7-foot center from The Phelps School, made his decision official with an announcent on social media.

He has a three-star ranking and is the No. 33-ranked center in the Class of 2025. He is also the No. 12-ranked player in the class in Pennsylvania. Houser chose the Nittany Lions over Temple.

Houser picked up his offer from the Nittany Lions and head coach Mike Rhoades a little more than a year ago. The June 15, 2023 offer from Penn State was among a flurry of them, including Bryant University, Siena, St. Joe’s, and NJIT.

For a scout on Houser, join our conversation in the Lions Den.

Penn State sets personnel intentions

Coming off of a 16-17 overall season with a 9-11 regular season mark against Big Ten competition, Rhoades acknowledged the things that he was looking for from the personnel he’d bring into the program moving forward. Adjusting to the new realities of the conference, he identified the traits he’d look to find in both transfers and recruits.

“The biggest thing to me is we want to have great balance of skill and ability. But we also want to make sure we get guys that we know are going to continue to get better, because that’s the way we pass people out,” said Rhoades. “You always want to get high-level skill. And you want to get big, strong guys. You want to get great athletes. 

“We want to find great fits. We’re going to find guys that want to play for the name on the front of the jersey. That’s why we got to do our homework. Do it the right way and make sure they’re great fits for me, and our team, and our program. But they want to sprint and run to Penn State. We have had some guys here that have done that and they’re getting better because of it and I love that and they love being here.”

Penn State has welcomed eight new players to its roster for the 2024-25 season. The program began its offseason eight weeks of summer workouts on June 16.

Where things stand for Penn State (13 of 13 scholarships filled)

Guards Ace Baldwin, Jahvin Carter, D’Marco Dunn, Dominick Stewart, Freddie Dilione
Wings Nick Kern, Zach Hicks, Puff Johnson, Hudson Ward, Eli Rice
Bigs Miles Goodman, Kachi Nzeh, Yanic Konan Niederhauser

Penn State scholarship breakdown by class

Bonus year (2): Ace Baldwin, Puff Johnson
Fourth year (3): Nick Kern, Zach Hicks, D’Marco Dunn
Third year (1): Yanic Konan Niederhauser
Second year (3): Kachi Nzeh, Eli Rice, Freddie Dilione
First year (4): Jahvin Carter, Miles Goodman, Dominick Stewart, Hudson Ward

Talk about it with our premium members in the Lions Den, here!

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