Penn State went after him because they lost out on everybody else.
This is an uneducated take. If you'd been following this recruitment, you'd know that both PSU and Georgia cooled on Bourque about a month ago, leaving him with only VT as a landing spot. I bet he lost out on some money this way too.
You people will need to get used to moneyball. Watch the movie if you haven't seen it. It's about balancing stats, ability, and cost to fill all the spots on the team. Building rosters with monetary constraints is an entirely different animal than legacy recruiting of being the most attractive school to teenagers. There's absolutely no reason to do what Franklin is doing, pouring all of the budget into the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th string QBs, leaving every other position group lacking.
Will Wood and Peter Bourque are basically even when you evaluate them. They both can make all the throws, they are accurate, and know how to win at the high school level. They differ slightly in that Will Wood has higher intelligence, more accurate throws, and better mobility, while Peter Bourke has a stronger arm on deep throws, is slightly more experienced, and is taller. When they both come out even--with several of Will Wood's traits being the more attractive ones to the Campbell staff anyways--you DON'T overpay for one of them when you can get the other for half price or less. That leaves plenty in the budget to give the guy good receivers, linemen, tight ends, and running backs.
Here's a real-life example: Amare Campbell. He was requiring over $1 million to stay. Was he good? Yes! VERY good. Was he worth that money? No! There are plenty of other VERY good linebackers who commanded way less. When Amare moved on to Tennessee, I said, "watch, we'll get several nearly equivalent players for that price." And we sure did. We look like we're going to have similar to slightly better starters at LB next year with MUCH better depth behind them and a few new DT's to shore up the line.
IT'S MONEYBALL.