Pursuit of engineering degree leads Ferns to give up football

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Fullback/tight end Michael Ferns III’s decision to leave the West Virginia football team was “100 percent about getting his engineering degree,” his father told MetroNews on Wednesday night.

The redshirt junior, a former four-star recruit, played 74 offensive snaps last season for the Mountaineers after transferring from Michigan. The ex-linebacker did not record a carry or a catch but appeared on 196 special-teams plays.

While Ferns figured to be the No. 2 blocking back behind Elijah Wellman next season, he’s an academic senior taking advanced classes in calculus, coding and app design, while targeting a 3.25 GPA in order to enter graduate school next spring.

“There is no possible way he can stay in computer engineering and take the necessary courses in the summer and fall,” said his dad, Michael Ferns Jr. “Engineering requires a lot of group projects and he was missing the majority of those and it always had him behind.

“The alternatives were to change into some deal like general studies and complete (the engineering degree) after football, or knock it down now and graduate in December. All the classes are progressive and he was concerned that if he stepped out of the major for a year he wouldn’t be capable of completing the classes with the absence away.”

Ferns’ father said West Virginia coaches understood the decision and discussed the potential for a future GA coaching position.

“Everyone, and I mean everyone, was super supportive,” he said. “Michael was happy at WVU and looking forward to playing again. He simply had to make sure he didn’t foul up that degree and kept his GPA in a position to get into grad school.”

Ferns younger brother Brendan, a redshirt freshman on the mend from an ACL injury last August, appears ready to return for spring practice next month and compete for a starting spot at linebacker.





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