The recruiting process may not have gone down exactly as Rivals250 linebacker Brendan Ferns foresaw, but he wasted no time sending in his college letter of intent on Signing Day morning.

A prospect who had never committed to a school at any point during his recruitment, Ferns announced a commitment to West Virginia and sent in his letter of intent exactly at 7 am Eastern, the earliest allowed by the NCAA.

Ferns had narrowed his choices down to West Virginia and Penn State back in the summer, and for a time looked like he would make a pre-season decision. That time came and went, however, and Ferns postponed his college selection until after his season. Then, he postponed it further and planned official visits to his finalists over the final two weekends before National Signing Day.

Mother Nature, however, had another plan for Ferns, dropping feet of snow on the East Coast and making travel to State College impossible the weekend of Jan. 22 due to Winter Storm Jonas. With only a week left, and a mid-week official visit impossible, Penn State was never able to host Ferns for that official visit.

That set of circumstances started the swing of momentum in this recruitment in West Virginia’s favor. They held Ferns’ final official visit weekend slot and were the only school he ultimately did visit officially.

A second factor that played in the Mountaineers' favor was Michael Ferns, Brendan’s older brother, was already on the roster in Morgantown and his positive experience was a strong advocate for West Virginia.

The 6-foot-2, 222-pound Ferns was a Rivals250 member for the duration of the 2016 class, finishing as the No. 232 ranked player in the class. He is also a standout in the classroom who is in the running for class valedictorian at St. Clairsville (Ohio) High School.