Recent commits Akeel Lynch and Steven Bench signed on to join Penn State's 2012 recruiting class on Wednesday.
Lynch is a 6-foot, 205-pound running back prospect out of Athol Springs, N.Y. He gave his verbal commitment to the Nittany Lions on Jan. 21, the day before former legendary coach Joe Paterno passed away at the age of 85. Lynch is rated a 3-star prospect by Rivals.com, and his profile there says he turned down offers from a number of schools including Boston College, Illinois, Iowa, Oklahoma and Syracuse to play in Happy Valley. Rivals rates him No. 29 at his position and No. 3 among prospects hailing from New York.
Bench de-committed from Rice to give Penn State his verbal commitment on Jan. 24. His Rivals profile says the 3-star rated prospect was also being pursued by Georgia State and Jacksonville State among others. in case you missed it the first time, here's a link to our profile of Bench from the day after his commitment.