Tyreese Fearbry backs off of commitment to Penn State

On the Fourth of July, it appeared the top prospect on Pitt’s recruiting board had been lost to a bitter rival, as Perry defensive end Tyreese Fearbry committed to Penn State. However, on Thursday, Fearbry announced that he had decommitted from Penn State, apparently reopening his recruitment.

“I will be decommitting from Penn State until further notice,” Fearbry said in a message posted on Twitter. He offered no elaboration on what brought about his change of heart.

Prior to his commitment to Penn State, Fearbry was down to a final four that also included Auburn, Kentucky and Pitt. Pitt, his hometown school, was thought by many to be a leader in his recruitment, but its efforts proved to be lacking. Still, despite the initial failure, Thursday’s news has breathed new life into the Panthers' pursuit of the defensive end, and they will have a second chance to convince him to remain in Pittsburgh for his college career.

The 6’4”, 220-pound defensive end is a consensus four-star recruit generally considered to be a top-five prospect in Pennsylvania, a top-15 defensive end and a top-200 recruit in the 2022 class. 247Sports ranks him No. 5 in Pennsylvania, No. 12 among edge rushers and No. 197 overall, while ESPN places him at No. 3 in state, No. 13 among defensive ends and No. 128 in the ESPN 300. The lone outlier is Rivals, which ranks him No. 13 in state and No. 21 at his position.

At this point, it is unclear what prompted Fearbry to back off of his pledge to Penn State. However, the Nittany Lions staff may have been victims of their own success on the recruiting trail, as Fearbry likely went into the Fourth of July under the assumption that he would be one of two defensive ends in the program’s 2022 class when he committed, with the other being four-star recruit Ken Talley. But on the day of his commitment, four-star defensive end Zane Durant committed to Penn State as well. And on July 22, a fourth defensive end was added in five-star Dani Dennis-Sutton. Fearbry decommitted one week later.

Pitt, a school Fearbry visited six times in June, is now considered by some to be the favorite to land the City League recruit. But with that said, Penn State may well be scrambling to retain Fearbry, and it is unclear when Fearbry might provide an update on his future plans.