MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Rivals top-250 outside linebacker Brendan Ferns chose West Virginia over Penn State early Wednesday morning, culminating a recruitment more than three years in the making for the Mountaineers staff.
Though Ferns piled up offers from Power 5 programs, including Ohio State and Alabama, his finalists ultimately made the cut because they offer a petroleum engineering curriculum. He initially planned to announce a commitment before his senior high school season but wound up being a signing-day decision as James Franklin’s staff at Penn State made the decision difficult.
Ferns spent part of his childhood in Wheeling and grew up attending West Virginia games even after his family relocated to Ohio. His older brother Michael signed with Michigan as a four-star linebacker in 2014 before transferring to WVU and redshirting last season.
“We thought he’d sign with West Virginia because of the longtime ties and the chance to play with his brother, but Brendan was going to be Brendan,” said Rivals writer Keenan Cummings. “He was going to make his own decision.”
And he has a different skill set. Whereas Michael was an in-the-box, middle linebacker, Brendan Ferns has shown the ability to play on the edge and tackle in space. At St. Clairsville he sometimes shifted out into man coverage against wide receivers.
“He’s a big-time player and the biggest addition to this class,” Cummings said. “West Virginia invested a lot of time and effort recruiting him, and even though he made them wait until the final day, it was worth it.”
Never thought when I took them to their first spring game 10 years ago that they would reunite on that same field. pic.twitter.com/PZZaFyC2ed
— Michael Ferns (@Red_Devil_Dad) February 3, 2016