Ferns picks West Virginia

It took longer than anybody initially expected but West Virginia added another valuable piece to the puzzle when St. Clairsville (Oh.) linebacker Brendan Ferns committed to the Mountaineers.

Ferns, 6-foot-2, 222-pounds, held offers from a long-list of programs but eventually narrowed his choices down to West Virginia and Penn State.

The Rivals.com four-star prospect had weighed the two schools against one another since last spring before eventually coming to the decision to spend his college career in Morgantown joining his older brother Mike, who is currently a fullback on the roster after transferring from Michigan.

Ferns had initially planned to announce a college decision sometime during the summer, but that was put on hold. From there he continued to weigh his choice until announcing in favor of the Mountaineers on national signing day.

A native of Wheeling, Ferns grew up following the West Virginia football program including attending many games over the years with his family. Those ties created interest from the start and it only grew from there.

"That's where my family grew up and that's where we spent our Saturday's going to the games and even spent family vacations to go to the Orange Bowl," Ferns said when receiving the offer from West Virginia. "So it's a little bit different."

Ferns had narrowed his decision down to West Virginia and Penn State in large part because of the proximity of the two schools to his home as well as their respective programs in petroleum engineering.

Offensive line coach Ron Crook served as the lead recruiter for Ferns and the linebacker made multiple visits to Morgantown over the summer including the final one-day camp of the summer July 25 to meet with the coaches as well as get another look at the academic offerings.

He returned several more times during the season in order to take in games and spend time with the coaches and learn about where he would fit into the program.

Ferns took an official visit to Morgantown during the weekend of Jan. 29 and the Mountaineers first offered the talented linebacker prospect in March of 2014.

In addition to his two finalists, Ferns held offers from programs such as Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame, Oregon, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, USC and Stanford, among others. Rated as the 9th best prospect in the state of Ohio, Ferns becomes the 26th commitment for West Virginia in the class of 2016. Ferns also represents the second four-star prospect to commit to the Mountaineers in the current recruiting cycle.

He represents the only member of the Rivals250 currently committed to West Virginia.

Ferns is the fourth linebacker to commit to West Virginia in this cycle following the pledges of Toledo (Oh.) Central Catholic linebacker Zach Sandwisch, Freeport (Pa.) Area Senior linebacker Logan Thimons and Centerville (Oh.) linebacker Adam Hensley.

WVSports.com will have more on this breaking news including a full interview with Ferns.