(Edit: Add to hed: “Yes!” Got a hold or Mr. Macon. Poor guy’s sister is screening calls for him. He confirmed the report — and most of what’s speculated on below — and said he’s taking one summer course at Marion-Franklin and then three at his prep school. We then shared a laugh about the phrase “summer break.”)

Scout.com reports Elijah Macon is off to New Hampshire’s Brewester Academy and won’t be at WVU for the 2012-13 season. Citing Macon’s AAU coach, it’s heavily worded that this is not a de-commitment and that Macon, who previously committed and de-committed, will still enroll at WVU, with the proper grades, as part of the 2013 class.

We touched on this last week because it seemed like the most likely option after Matt Humphrey signed (and will enroll soon). The Mountaineers have three seniors — and one Aaric Murray, who, academically, is a senior, and athletically, might be NBA good — and just two players committed to the 2013 class.

What’s odd here is Rob Fulford, Macon’s coach at Huntington Prep, told me Tuesday afternoon he wasn’t totally sure what Macon was doing. He, and I, were a little surprised that Macon would make up his mind and go this route before knowing the score of the June 9 ACT.

The people at WVU who might know about such things said they didn’t know — and this occurred off the record, where conversations about academics must occurr. Bub Bob Huggins, for example, wouldn’t go there, though I wonder if he could.

Granted, Fulford and the people at Brewster know more than I know, so maybe Macon’s summer picture was pretty bleak and the bait was cut. It’s also (increasingly?) possible that the second round with core classes in at Marion-Franklin was bluster and that the ACT was merely target practice for next season and will give the academic/admissions people at Brewster a running start on what Macon must do in the classroom next year.

But let’s remember, this is the kid who needed to be away from home to get his house in order and it looks like it didn’t work. Now he’s going to be really far from home, to where he’d like to retreat from time to time while at Huntington Prep, and has to make to make it work this one last time.