The West Virginia Mountaineers defensive line took a huge blow this week, after Lamonte McDougle has informed the coaching staff that he will be transferring out of the program after the Spring semester.

The rumors of McDougle’s departures have been flying for the past couple weeks, but we received confirmation on Monday that it was more of a “when, not if” scenario and were asked to sit on the info because the staff was putting a full-court press on to keep the Freshman All-American in Morgantown. Well, the “when” in that equation is today, as Mitch Vingle was the first to publicly break the news via Twitter.

Received confirmation WVU DL Lamonte McDougle has quit the Mountaineer program. — Mitch Vingle (@MitchVingle) March 29, 2018

McDougle’s departure leaves the Mountaineer defensive line extremely thin, with just four defensive linemen on scholarship. West Virginia also lost Adam Shuler III and Jalen Harvey earlier this year to transfers. Sophomore Darius Stills is the only nose tackle remaining on the Spring roster. The coaching staff will now be forced to look at the graduate transfer market to help shore up the depth at the position.

We’ll continue to follow this story as more information becomes available.