Brendan Ferns left St. Clairsville High School as one of the most sought after recruits the Ohio Valley had seen in quite some time.

The consensus four-star linebacker, who was chosen to play in the U.S. Army All-American Game, had more than 25 collegiate scholarship offers. West Virginia eventually won the recruiting battle over Penn State and got Ferns’ National Letter of Intent on National Signing Day 2016.

Unfortunately, because of injuries, his collegiate career never got going.

Wednesday morning, via his Twitter account, Ferns officially brought an end to his playing career after suiting up in just eight games during his Mountaineer career.

Ferns announced his retirement from football. He will, however, remain at WVU on a medical scholarship, allowing him to complete his degree.

“… (I) will not be able to play my final two years here at WVU,” Ferns said in his online statement. “These past three years at WVU were not how I envisioned them, but life happens. Eventually, every athlete will have to hang it up, but some do sooner than others. Unfortunately, this is the end, but I wouldn’t change anything about my three years here at WVU. The past couple of years have taught me valuable life lessons that I will take with me and cherish for the rest of my life.”

When Ferns arrived in Morgantown in June of 2016, there was a belief that he could make a push for early playing time. However, his first season there finished with a red shirt because of a knee injury he sustained.

In 2017, healed and cleared from the knee injury, Ferns was contributing for the Mountaineers on special teams. On kickoff team, Ferns suffered a serious shoulder injury in a game against Kansas, which put ended his red-shirt freshman campaign.

Nearly a year ago, Ferns suffered a second torn ACL in his left knee during spring drills. After a successful operation, Ferns rehabbed his way back onto the field in time for the Mountaineers final four games.

Ferns had been impressing the new Mountaineer coaching staff. Linebacker coach Blake Seiler raved about Ferns during a meeting with the media earlier this month.

“I’ve only been here for about 10 days and the thing that is most impressive to me about Brenden is that coach gives a Warrior of the Week award and he was the first guy to get it,” Seiler said. ” (It’s) the way he works, the way he leads and the way he adds energy. He’s just doing everything he is supposed to do both on and off the field.

During a spring practice last weekend, it was reported that Ferns wasn’t working with the linebacker group. When new Mountaineers head coach Neal Brown was asked about the former Red Devil, he simply said, ” (Ferns)has not yet been medically cleared to play.”

Ferns finished his Mountaineer career with 11 tackles.