McDougle on board with Mountaineers
West Virginia was in need of defensive lineman to fill out the 2017 recruiting class and the Mountaineers received a major commitment to address that in Deerfield Beach (Fla.) athlete Lamonte McDougle Monday night.
McDougle, 6-foot-1, 295-pounds, took an official visit to West Virginia over the weekend and saw enough during his time on campus to cast his lot with the Big 12 Conference program following the completion of his time on campus.
The defensive lineman had developed into a key Mountaineers target down the stretch with the coaching staff making multiple in-home visits over the final three weeks of the process and putting West Virginia in the driver's seat.
Running backs coach JaJuan Seider as well as defensive line coach Bruce Tall served as the lead recruiter for McDougle and the duo developed a strong connection with him over the course of the process that only was further soldified on his trip to Morgantown.
West Virginia has been involved with McDougle from nearly the beginning of the recruiting process and he had planned multiple trips to Morgantown but was unable to make it before this past weekend.
A fast, yet strong defensive lineman, McDougle could play several spots in the West Virginia defensive front but will likely begin his career at nose guard with the opportunity to slide outside.
The Rivals.com three-star prospect also held offers from a long list of schools including Louisville, Pittsburgh, Washington State, Purdue, Minnesota, Kentucky and several others. He initially committed to Washington State during the summer, but backed off the pledge to take other visits.
Outside of West Virginia, McDougle also took visits to FIU Jan. 13 and FAU Jan. 20 and had considered a number of other trips to other locations.
Overall, McDougle becomes the third true defensive lineman in the class behind mid-year enrollees nose guard Jalen Harvey and defensive end Ezekiel Rose along with high school prospect Fairmont (W.Va.) Senior nose guard Darius Stills. He is the 21st overall commitment in the 2017 recruiting class for the Mountaineers.
WVSports.com will have more with McDougle in the near future.
