The Lunch: Iowa’s the place for history, hoops and heaps of snow

AMES, Iowa — The state’s 1,681 precincts are getting their caucus on today, which means there’s hardly a rental car to be found with all the media encroaching to cover this historic quadrennial event. (Which, by the way, correctly forecasts each party’s nominee less than half the time.)

Among the locals, the post-caucus blizzard is running a close second in the news today, with more than a foot of snow expected to fall as candidates bolt for New Hampshire. Curious to see how much that diminishes Tuesday night’s crowd for the Iowa State-West Virginia game, because in a flat state full of tractors, I surmise Hilton Coliseum will be packed as usual.

Also on the Gold & Blue Lunch Report today, Rivals writer Keenan Cummings drops in to drop the latest on Brendan Ferns, the four-star Ohio linebacker who has kept recruitniks on the edge of their seats since last summer. Will he join his brother Michael at West Virginia or solidify Penn State’s top-20 class?

“I think West Virginia is going to get him ultimately, but I don’t have 100-percent confidence like I have with a lot of guys,” Cummings said. “He doesn’t deal with the media at all—and that’s left a lot of people guessing. He’s not your typical kid. He’s not looking for attention. He’s not looking to stir things up.”

West Virginia has commitments from four other linebackers, but none as highly recruited as Ferns. As Cummings noted, “He would be the only Rivals top-250 guy, as of today, in the entire West Virginia class.”

While the wait-and-watch scenario plays out with Ferns, the West Virginia coaches are seeking to lock up two more junior college cornerbacks. This is a position of dire need when the 2016 depth chart consists of Rasul Douglas, Antonio Crawford and Nana Kyeremeh—three seniors who have three career FBS starts among them.





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