Spent a lot of my afternoon digging into the Brendan Ferns situation and I think the latest developments are pretty good news for WVU.
Basically Ohio State and Brendan are going their separate ways.
There have been several talks between OSU and the Ferns camp recently with each side sort of bringing their concerns to the table. Two big sticking points for Brendan have been the petroleum engineering major and more recently, not wanting to move too quickly towards a decision after seeing how much things changed for older brother Mike between the time of his early commitment and his freshman season at Michigan.
Ohio State was sort of picking up the pressure recently and wanted to get a good idea of where things stand. They certainly weren't given an ultimatum but OSU made it pretty clear they wanted a resolution sooner rather than later.
Ohio State does not offer a petroleum engineering major and laid out some alternatives and basically I am told the last discussion that was had between the two parties basically resulted in a stalemate and now things look pretty much dead there.
This now becomes a WVU vs. Penn State battle in my opinion. There are a lot of reasons to like WVU's chances but you can't totally discount Penn State. Both programs offer the major he is looking for, and the recent PSU visit went well.
But there is definitely a comfort level the family has with WVU that I think goes well beyond just Mike being there now. It's a family with a lot of WVU fans and ties, a close proximity to home, and a depth chart that has to look pretty appealing for any 2016 linebacker that is coming into the fold.
One thing I will say here is that I was told by the family very recently to not expect much comment on his recruitment moving forward until a decision is made. We'll work on getting more from them on where things stand but in a manner that also is respectful of their wishes for privacy.
Will let you guys know if I hear anything else.
Basically Ohio State and Brendan are going their separate ways.
There have been several talks between OSU and the Ferns camp recently with each side sort of bringing their concerns to the table. Two big sticking points for Brendan have been the petroleum engineering major and more recently, not wanting to move too quickly towards a decision after seeing how much things changed for older brother Mike between the time of his early commitment and his freshman season at Michigan.
Ohio State was sort of picking up the pressure recently and wanted to get a good idea of where things stand. They certainly weren't given an ultimatum but OSU made it pretty clear they wanted a resolution sooner rather than later.
Ohio State does not offer a petroleum engineering major and laid out some alternatives and basically I am told the last discussion that was had between the two parties basically resulted in a stalemate and now things look pretty much dead there.
This now becomes a WVU vs. Penn State battle in my opinion. There are a lot of reasons to like WVU's chances but you can't totally discount Penn State. Both programs offer the major he is looking for, and the recent PSU visit went well.
But there is definitely a comfort level the family has with WVU that I think goes well beyond just Mike being there now. It's a family with a lot of WVU fans and ties, a close proximity to home, and a depth chart that has to look pretty appealing for any 2016 linebacker that is coming into the fold.
One thing I will say here is that I was told by the family very recently to not expect much comment on his recruitment moving forward until a decision is made. We'll work on getting more from them on where things stand but in a manner that also is respectful of their wishes for privacy.
Will let you guys know if I hear anything else.
