Like many big-time high school football stars getting big-time recruiting pitches, Alex Kenney has heard it all.

He could start as a freshman. He would have the nicest dorms. He would receive the best tutors, access to all the locker room's high-tech amenities and free clothes galore.

"It was all the same," said State College Area High School's four-star prospect.

"Every coach I talked to just wanted

me to come to their school, and they all made the same ridiculous offers."

But Kenney, like other local athletes who chose Penn State, realized something. Of the many colleges presenting them with scholarship offers, only Penn State could provide them something unique: the chance to play in front of their friends and family.

"At first I really wanted to get away," said Kenney, the 6-foot, 190-pound wide receiver. "But when it came time to make my decision, I realized how cool it would be to have all that local support."

So Kenney, who was recruited by 25 schools, turned down opportunities in the pass-happy Pac-10 and dominant SEC for a chance to play in Beaver Stadium -- just two miles north of his high school football field.

To his peers at State College High, Kenney is living the dream. Growing up in the backyard of one America's most storied athletic programs, many students of State College have been bleeding blue and white since infancy. If given a choice to play for the Nittany Lions, well, it's not even a choice.

"I didn't really have a chance to get many scholarship offers because early on I was just telling everyone I wanted to play for PSU," said Mike Pierce, a State College graduate.

Now one of the Penn State baseball team's top lefty relievers, Pierce remembers going to Nittany Lions games since age 6.

"Growing up I always followed Penn State," Pierce said. "Forever, it's been my dream to play for them."

For some athletes, a local connection is a foot in the door. Jesse Wagner, a 2007 grad of State College High, was fielding volleyball scholarship offers from Juniata, NYU, and Princeton. But he wanted to go to Penn State.

"I already knew [coach Mark Pavlik] just because I was from the area, doing some camps here, things like that," Wagner said. "I told him I was going to come here, and he offered me a chance to walk on."

Wagner was confident in his decision to play for the Nittany Lions and has never looked back.

Kenney, however, wasn't always that sure. Widely regarded as one of the fastest prep athletes in Pennsylvania -- he has clocked 10.6 seconds in the 100m -- Kenney was lured by some of the country's top programs. The idea of being "just another State College kid at Penn State" almost seemed like a stale afterthought.

Yet it was the advice he received from the face of Penn State football that helped put things in perspective.

His father, Larry Kenney, remembers sitting down with coach Joe Paterno early in the recruitment process.

"He looked at Alex and said, 'I don't know you well enough to tell you with certainty that Penn State is the perfect school for you, but I will tell you that you shouldn't go somewhere else simply because Penn State is close to home and you've been around it all your life,' " the elder Kenney said.

When Alex Kenney finally committed in July, it was because Penn State had the total package.

"In the end, I just fell in love with the school," he said. "The coaching staff, the program. Just everything."

When Kenney officially enrolls at Penn State next fall, he'll be one of four former Little Lions on the Nittany Lions' roster. Starting kicker Collin Wagner and standout linebacker Nate Stupar are both State College alumni.

Little Lions coach Al Wolski doesn't think it's a coincidence that so many of his athletes are excelling at the next level, especially at Penn State.

"We're in the backdrop of one of the best football programs in the country," said Wolski, who has been coaching the local high school for six years. "It sets the tone for our team."

And Penn State has long set the tone for the entire community. For as long as most residents can remember, State College, population 39,893 -- whose economy and demographics are largely influenced by Penn State -- has evolved to fit the needs for the university. And now it even helps produce some of its athletes.

Matt Groves, a middle-distance runner for Penn State's track team, is also a homegrown talent. When it came time to make the college decision, he had little hesitation.

"Going to Penn State just felt right," Groves said.

For Ben Ryan, a senior on the swim team, the path to Penn State wasn't as clear.

Though he lived just miles away from McCoy Natatorium, he didn't see a Penn State swim meet until his senior year, in the heat of the recruitment process. Given offers by several schools, Ryan eventually chose Penn State for the overall fit of the program, not from pressures to stay close to home.

"But I do have some family members at almost all of my home meets," Ryan said. "And that's nice."

Groves agrees, saying the biggest perk of attending college close to home is having his family nearby to support him.

When Kenney takes the field for Penn State next fall, he too will be sure to have a sizable State College contingent there to cheer him on.

"Penn State has a great tradition," he said. "I've seen it from the outside growing up in State College, and now I'm just lucky to be a part of it."