247Sports was told Tuesday that it wasn't for lack of will.

Just lack of way.

Either way, it doesn't look like the nation's No. 1 ranked inside linebacker Brendan Ferns will be headed to Ohio State.

247Sports confirmed that the two parties will go their separate ways. Ferns talked with his Buckeyes recruiter Chris Ash on Monday evening.

In the running to be the Saint Clairsville (Ohio) High valedictorian, Ferns didn't want to sacrifice his dream to be a petroleum engineering major in favor for his football dreams. Ohio State doesn't offer anywhere close to the curriculum Ferns was looking for. 247Sports was told that the two parties tried to make it work for a couple weeks but Ferns didn't get the answers he was looking for.

With that, Ferns has to kind of start the recruiting process over, because the family just figured he'd ultimately be a Buckeye. It was the school he grew up rooting for and the family was real high on Ash and Luke Fickell among others.

Penn State has two players, one on scholarship and one a walk-on majoring in what Ferns wants to major in. The Ferns family has mentioned in the past that schools like West Virginia, where Fern's older brother, along with Pittsburgh, the Texas schools and LSU offer what he's looking for.

There is no decision timeline for Ferns, who is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 4 player in Ohio and the nation's No. 63 prospect overall.

Ferns will cap his prep career as a U.S. Army All-American.