Ferns talks top two

SAN ANTONIO - One of the top uncommitted prospects in the entire Midwest is St. Clairsville (Ohio) linebacker Brendan Ferns. The four-star prospect is competing against some of the nation's best this week as he takes part in the Army All-American Bowl.

"Coming from a small town, I don't get the opportunity to always go against the top guys," explained Ferns. "When I had this opportunity, I knew that I definitely wanted to do it because this doesn't occur every day. It really exploits what you need to work on. Today during 1-on-1's I was taught some new stuff to work on, there was one key point that I really took in. I wasn't getting beat but it was just something to make it easier for me."

Ferns' recruitment has come down to two of the nation's top programs as both Penn State and West Virginia battle for his services. The 6-foot-2, 222-pound prospect will make official visits to both before National Signing Day.

"The first one is going to be WVU (the weekend of the 15th)," he explained. "My sister has a basketball (event) the next weekend and then the following weekend (the 29th) will be Penn State."

While the programs have their differences, they each have two things going for them that have allowed them to be finalists for Ferns.

"If you break it down, the main things that really put them there are proximity to home and the degree," he said. "If you throw in the degree (petroleum engineering) and proximity to home, it's really those two and it narrows it down to those two. That's kind of how I got to those two."

Ferns' older brother Mike was recruited to Michigan to play linebacker but transferred before this season to WVU where he is working on the offensive side of the football. That close relationship in Morgantown is helping the Mountaineers right now.

"My brother was at Michigan but now at WVU he kind of has the inside scoop on how things are there," Ferns explained. "He really enjoys it and he feels like they really take care of you."

The relationships are also strong at Penn State, as the Nittany Lions have made Ferns a priority for a long time.

"With Penn State, coach Pry has spent a long time recruiting me," Ferns said. "I feel like he really wants me and that I've been able to get to know him pretty well. He's a great guy and he's from the same area as me."

While his older brother is at WVU, that doesn't mean that Ferns feels strong pressure to head to Morgantown, it will be his own decision.

"He really doesn't say much, he wants me to make my own decision," he said of his brother. "He's never pushed me towards a school or directly told me that I need to go somewhere. He'll give me information about what's going on but he has never pressured me."

Ultimately visits will decide this for Ferns, as is often the case on recruitments that head into January.

"I'm very comfortable with both," he said. "I feel like either school I would feel comfortable with but really these two visits will separate things. One thing is that I haven't met the guys in either class really. Hopefully on these two visits, some of the guys are down there. I'm really not a big social media or camps guy so I don't know a lot of the guys at each place."

Ferns is rated the No. 10 overall prospect in the state of Ohio for the 2016 class and the No. 229 prospect nationally by Rivals.com.