I caught up with Michael Ferns, father of St. Clairsville, Ohio, linebacker Brendan Ferns.
As I posted last week, Brendan and his family welcomed Brent Pry to their house for in-home visit last Wednesday, Dec. 9. Mr. Ferns informed me that Pry was at their home for roughly four hours, as he got there around 5:30 PM and didn't leave until roughly 9:30 PM. Every in-home visit is different, but four hours, in my opinion, is substantially longer than most meetings. I think the average is probably two, maybe two and a half hours, so it's a good sign for the staff that they met for basically the entire evening.
"It was just a typical meeting," said Michael Ferns. "It was honestly like a typical evening in the Ferns house. We know him pretty well now. I know Brendan is comfortable with him. Pry was there until about 9:30 and he got there around 5:30, so it was a good three or four hours.
"But when you're doing these talks with coaches, they go pretty fast. We're already comfortable with Penn State and we've seen most of what they have to offer, so I would say that the main thing was just setting up his official visit, which is going to be on January 22nd. I know that's going to be a big weekend for them."
As we've talked about many times over the past six months, Ferns hasn't visited Penn State since March, but following that trip, both Brendan and his father spoke very, very highly of visit. The coaching staff actually setup a one-on-one meeting with the dean who oversees petroleum engineering. I know that really impressed Brendan and his father. Click Here if you'd like to read that article.
In the weeks that followed, Mr. Ferns mentioned that they'd like to bring his mother to campus to show her PSU, and that led many to believe that his mother's approval was all that stood between Ferns and a commitment to PSU. However, that visit never materialized and the family then went on to visit West Virginia many times. Here is what Brendan's father had to say about that.
"I know a lot of people thought that since we didn't return in the summer, he was no longer interested in Penn State, but that's really not the case. He (Brendan) had a busy schedule with basketball and football workouts and his sister was also busy with basketball.
"But the main reason is that Brendan has been visiting Penn State since he was a freshman. I remember coming up there when Charlie Fisher was his recruiting coach, so he's been there more than most schools. He's still been talking to Coach Pry regularly and they have a great relationship, so PSU has always had his interest."
Another topic that we talked about quite a bit was his opinion on both Brent Pry and Bob Shoop. Mr. Ferns has always spoken very highly of those two, so I asked him to elaborate on his opinion of the two PSU assistants.
"I've always thought that, the way he carries himself and the way he interacts with Brendan and myself, he could definitely be a head coach someday," Ferns said, referring to Pry. "His work speaks for itself. I know Penn State has always been known for linebackers, even before he got there, but since then, his group has been very solid for them."
He later went on to add, "I spent a lot of time with Shoop when Brendan came up there in the spring. He showed me a lot that day. I don't know him as well as I know Pry, but we were both very impressed with Shoop that day and so many people speak very highly of him. I've had a lot of people tell me about how it's only a matter of time before Shoop becomes a head coach somewhere and I see why. He's a really bright guy."
Ferns and his family also hosted West Virginia assistant coach Ron Crook last Thursday, Dec. 10. The Mountaineers had a game the week prior, so that was the only visit that Ferns had with West Virginia during the contact period. Now that the dead period is in effect, recruits won't be able to visit any other schools or host coaches until Jan. 13, but I expect Ferns to set an official visit to West Virginia sometime in the coming weeks.
As for other schools, I can't 100 percent rule out an official visit outside of State College or Morgantown, but his father made it pretty clear that Brendan will end up at PSU or WVU, which is what we've all been expecting for months now.
A month or two ago, I thought it was very likely that Ferns would end up at West Virginia, but after this most recent talk that we had - which lasted almost 30 mins - I was given the impression that this is pretty close to 50/50. In a way, Ferns' recruitment has kind of been similar to Tre Nixon. He's been set on his top schools for awhile now, but as his recruitment has progressed, he's realized that he wants to double and triple check everything, so that's the main reason this has dragged out as long as it has. With so many players backing out of their commitments these days, you have to respect that.
The next few weeks will be pretty slow, but I will continue to check in with Ferns and his father to learn more on when a visit to West Virginia may come. Despite being very familiar with both schools, these official visits will still have a solid impact on where he ends up, so we just have to see how things play out, but I definitely believe that Penn State has a real chance here.
As I posted last week, Brendan and his family welcomed Brent Pry to their house for in-home visit last Wednesday, Dec. 9. Mr. Ferns informed me that Pry was at their home for roughly four hours, as he got there around 5:30 PM and didn't leave until roughly 9:30 PM. Every in-home visit is different, but four hours, in my opinion, is substantially longer than most meetings. I think the average is probably two, maybe two and a half hours, so it's a good sign for the staff that they met for basically the entire evening.
"It was just a typical meeting," said Michael Ferns. "It was honestly like a typical evening in the Ferns house. We know him pretty well now. I know Brendan is comfortable with him. Pry was there until about 9:30 and he got there around 5:30, so it was a good three or four hours.
"But when you're doing these talks with coaches, they go pretty fast. We're already comfortable with Penn State and we've seen most of what they have to offer, so I would say that the main thing was just setting up his official visit, which is going to be on January 22nd. I know that's going to be a big weekend for them."
As we've talked about many times over the past six months, Ferns hasn't visited Penn State since March, but following that trip, both Brendan and his father spoke very, very highly of visit. The coaching staff actually setup a one-on-one meeting with the dean who oversees petroleum engineering. I know that really impressed Brendan and his father. Click Here if you'd like to read that article.
In the weeks that followed, Mr. Ferns mentioned that they'd like to bring his mother to campus to show her PSU, and that led many to believe that his mother's approval was all that stood between Ferns and a commitment to PSU. However, that visit never materialized and the family then went on to visit West Virginia many times. Here is what Brendan's father had to say about that.
"I know a lot of people thought that since we didn't return in the summer, he was no longer interested in Penn State, but that's really not the case. He (Brendan) had a busy schedule with basketball and football workouts and his sister was also busy with basketball.
"But the main reason is that Brendan has been visiting Penn State since he was a freshman. I remember coming up there when Charlie Fisher was his recruiting coach, so he's been there more than most schools. He's still been talking to Coach Pry regularly and they have a great relationship, so PSU has always had his interest."
Another topic that we talked about quite a bit was his opinion on both Brent Pry and Bob Shoop. Mr. Ferns has always spoken very highly of those two, so I asked him to elaborate on his opinion of the two PSU assistants.
"I've always thought that, the way he carries himself and the way he interacts with Brendan and myself, he could definitely be a head coach someday," Ferns said, referring to Pry. "His work speaks for itself. I know Penn State has always been known for linebackers, even before he got there, but since then, his group has been very solid for them."
He later went on to add, "I spent a lot of time with Shoop when Brendan came up there in the spring. He showed me a lot that day. I don't know him as well as I know Pry, but we were both very impressed with Shoop that day and so many people speak very highly of him. I've had a lot of people tell me about how it's only a matter of time before Shoop becomes a head coach somewhere and I see why. He's a really bright guy."
Ferns and his family also hosted West Virginia assistant coach Ron Crook last Thursday, Dec. 10. The Mountaineers had a game the week prior, so that was the only visit that Ferns had with West Virginia during the contact period. Now that the dead period is in effect, recruits won't be able to visit any other schools or host coaches until Jan. 13, but I expect Ferns to set an official visit to West Virginia sometime in the coming weeks.
As for other schools, I can't 100 percent rule out an official visit outside of State College or Morgantown, but his father made it pretty clear that Brendan will end up at PSU or WVU, which is what we've all been expecting for months now.
A month or two ago, I thought it was very likely that Ferns would end up at West Virginia, but after this most recent talk that we had - which lasted almost 30 mins - I was given the impression that this is pretty close to 50/50. In a way, Ferns' recruitment has kind of been similar to Tre Nixon. He's been set on his top schools for awhile now, but as his recruitment has progressed, he's realized that he wants to double and triple check everything, so that's the main reason this has dragged out as long as it has. With so many players backing out of their commitments these days, you have to respect that.
The next few weeks will be pretty slow, but I will continue to check in with Ferns and his father to learn more on when a visit to West Virginia may come. Despite being very familiar with both schools, these official visits will still have a solid impact on where he ends up, so we just have to see how things play out, but I definitely believe that Penn State has a real chance here.
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