New Penn State football RB commit explains choice: ‘Why not Penn State?’

The Penn State football team has suffered a series of setbacks on the recruiting trail over the recent weeks. Players that Penn State seemed to be in the recruiting driver’s seat seemed to slip away. But a pleasant surprise for the Nittany Lion faithful was landing a top 10 running back in the 2025 recruiting class, Alvin Henderson, on Thursday. Following his commitment, Henderson explained why he chose Penn State.

Recent Penn State football RB commit says, ‘Why not Penn State?’

James Franklin and the Nittany Lions missed on the No. 1 QB from Pennsylvania Matt Zollers when he made his commitment to Missouri on April 4th. Then, Wednesday night it was top 10 defensive lineman in the 2025 recruiting class, Trent Wilson who chose the Oklahoma Sooners over the Nittany Lions.

But the recruiting woes changed when Alvin Henderson made his commitment to the Penn State football team on Thursday afternoon. The Nittany Lions hosted Henderson last weekend on a somewhat of a surprise visit. That visit ended up being the difference-maker that led to Henderson’s decision to commit to Penn State.

Alvin Henderson spoke to On3 following his commitment to Penn State:

“The reason why I say now and not later is because I’m ready to just join a family that wants me. I’m ready to go ahead and build my class and start recruiting. Most of all I’m ready, the O-line there is pretty set, they’ve already got a quarterback, they’ve got key pieces, and two other running backs. I’m ready to continue to enforce that I’m going to be one of the leaders, the alphas. They always have a top class but I want to help put the icing on the cake.”

Henderson also spoke with John Garcia Jr. a national recruiting analyst for Rivals stating “Why not Penn State?”

Reviewing the 2025 Penn State football recruiting class

With the addition of Henderson the Penn State football team sits with a top 10 2025 recruiting class according to 247Sports. The Nittany Lions have the No. 7 class in the country with top prospects DJ McClary, Alvin Henderson, and Dayshaun Burnett.

Penn State will host several top recruits this weekend for the Blue-White game that is set to take place this afternoon at 2 pm. If these visits go well, the 2025 recruiting class could potentially grow following this weekend.

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