Bowling Green WR Nacarius Fant verbally commits to Western Kentucky

Nacarius Fant will be staying close to home.

The rising senior receiver out of Bowling Green High School verbally committed Wednesday to Western Kentucky.

“With them being in my backyard, basically, I go to every home game,” Fant said. “It was them showing the strong interest in me and the addition of the coaching staff and coach (Bobby) Petrino. He’s a coach a player wants to play for, and he’s bringing a system that will air it out and needs help at my position. I think I can come in and help.”

The 5-foot-10-inch, 170-pound Fant first broke the news to WKU offensive coordinator Jeff Brohm on Wednesday afternoon, he said.

Fant had offers from WKU and Illinois, along with interest from teams including Cincinnati, Louisville, Kentucky, Indiana and Purdue.

He attended UK’s Saturday Night Prime Time Camp on Saturday and hoped his performance there would yield a scholarship offer, but it didn’t materialize.

“I went there and I did really good,” Fant said. “I felt like Kentucky wasn’t really sure about me. After that, Western showed me a lot of love and showed confidence in me.”

Fant caught 70 passes for 1,335 yards and 19 touchdowns as a junior and has helped lead the Purples to 30 straight wins and back-to-back Class 5A state championships.

Fant is rated a three-star prospect by Scout.com and a two-star recruit by Rivals.com. He’s the first commitment for the Tops in the 2014 class.

He can’t officially sign with WKU until National Signing Day in February.

See Thursday’s Daily News for full comments from Fant.