A decision made more than one year ago by Coach Tom O'Brien of N.C. State produced a result Monday in delivering a commitment from Anthony Creecy.

Creecy, a 6-0, 196-pound receiver from Durham, joined N.C. State's 2010 recruiting class. Creecy, a rising senior at Southern Durham High School, had been offered a grant-in-aid by O'Brien when he was a sophomore.

Creecy visited Wake Forest, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Virginia and Mississippi on his own. Coach Adrian Jones of Southern Durham said that Creecy also researched O'Brien and his coaching staff and was pleased upon finding out that they had been successful when coaching at Boston College and producing NFL draftees.

"I think he wanted to go ahead and get the process over with," Jones said. "He wanted to focus on playing football now instead of worrying about where he's going to go for college."

Creecy can sign the binding national letter-of-intent in February 2010 when he is a senior. He is the fifth known commitment in N.C. State's class and will likely be one of the state's top seniors for the 2009 season when SuperPrep, a high-school football recruiting magazine, releases its player rankings.

The forthcoming high-school season will be Creecy's fourth as a starter. He had 853 yards receiving last season in earning all-conference and all-area honors. He played free safety, also.

Creecy has 4.52-second speed over 40 yards and plays basketball at Southern Durham, also. He helped last season's football team go 9-4 and reach the Class 4-A state playoffs.

A catch that Creecy made in a regular-season game against Wake Forest-Rolesville helped Southern Durham force a tied score at the end of regulation and win in overtime.

"He was running down the field and had to stop and adjust and turn backwards to catch the ball in the air, while he was jumping," Jones said. "The guy tackled him as he was in the air. He fell on the ball and he still caught it."

Jones said that the N.C. State coaches are confident that Creecy can line up in the backfield on some plays, which they are hopeful could lead to defensive mismatches.