By Bill Kurelic, NN Recruiting Analyst

bkurelic@nittanynetwork.com

July 14, 2009

This past weekend, wide receiver Alex Kenney from State College, Pa., told Nittany Network he was visiting Penn State on Tuesday.  The ESPNU Watch List prospect arrived as scheduled and his subsequent commitment gives Joe Paterno a baker’s dozen of 13 commitments for the class of 2010.

"I took a visit there with my family and felt comfortable," said Kenney, whose mother and father attended the meeting with assistant coach Mike McQueary. "At the end of the meeting, I committed."

Kenney’s father is a Penn State professor. Speculation has long been it was a matter of time until Alex announced he was cross-town bound.

Why Penn State?

"Number one, it's close to home and I will still be able to talk to my parents," Kenney said. "Number two, I won't have to do a lot of adjusting - I've been here my whole life.

"Number three, this recruiting class is very talented."

Kenney’s scholarship offer list included Penn State, Pitt, Stanford, Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina State, North Carolina, Boston College, Minnesota, Temple and Kentucky before he selected the Nittany Lions.

"Virginia was up there and North Carolina and Boston College," Kenney said. "You could say I had a lot of things to consider. But none of those schools I thought as highly of as Penn State."

Kenney is Penn State’s second class of 2010 ESPNU 150 Watch List wide receiver commitment.  In late April, Adrian Coxson from Baltimore (Md.) City College announced he had selected the Nittany Lions.  The Coxson-Kenney duo is key to what has become one of the nation’s top recruiting classes.

Paterno also has two of the Big Ten region’s top 2010 quarterbacks: Robert Bolden from Orchard Lake (Mich.) St. Mary’s and P.J. Jones from McKees Rocks (Pa.) Sto-Rox.

All signs point to exciting times in State College over the next few years.

Kurelic’s Comment:  Paterno and his staff are definitely capitalizing on the great year the Nittany Lions had on the field in 2008.  With a good finish, this 2010 class will be the best Paterno and his assistants have landed in a number of years.