Update, 9:45 a.m.:

Mahaffey seemingly confirmed the reports later Monday morning by retweeting a report made by a news editor at The Athletic.

Original Story:

Penn State men’s basketball’s once-top-rated recruiting class is beginning to crumble.

Freshman forward Evan Mahaffey reportedly entered the transfer portal Monday morning, accordint to Verbal Commits. He is the first to do so from former head coach Micah Shrewsberry’s original Class of 2022 recruits.

Mahaffey proved to be a weapon for the Nittany Lions off the bench despite his inexperience. The freshman appeared in 34 out of 37 games and began posting increased minutes throughout the season. Mahaffey peaked at 20 minutes against Northwestern on March 1 and manufactured a hard-fought offensive rebound that led to Camren Wynter’s game-winning triple.

Mahaffey tallied 94 points throughout his rookie season, averaged 2.8 points per game, and registered 1.7 rebounds per game. Most importantly, though, the Cincinatti, Ohio, native provided massive energy and pace to the Nittany Lions’ roster in his limited minutes.

Mahaffey was recruited out of Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinatti, Ohio, as a three-star small forward and the No. 6-ranked player in his position coming out of the state. He held the ranking of the No. 30-best small forward in the country and committed to Penn State on August 11, 2021.

Mahaffey chose Penn State over offers from Cincinatti, Kansas State, West Virginia, Xavier, and others.

Mahaffey will join Dallion Johnson and Caleb Dorsey who reportedly entered the transfer portal on Wednesday, March 22. Four-star signee Carey Booth also reportedly requested release from the program on Thursday, March 23.