MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Second-year specialist Jonn Young has left the West Virginia football team, according to a source, the latest piece of offseason roster shuffling.
A school spokesman would not confirm the departure and Young remained on the roster as of late Thursday afternoon.
ESPN, Scout and 247Sports pegged Young as a three-star recruit in 2016, while Rivals gave him two stars coming out of Davie High School in Advance, N.C. Among the elite kickers at various regional and national camps, Young appeared primed to replace Groza Award finalist Josh Lambert, but he never broke through among the place-kickers at WVU.
After redshirting for the Mountaineers in 2016, Young suffered an early season injury last fall and appeared in two games, punting twice as the backup to walk-on Billy Kinney.
West Virginia used two walk-on kickers in 2017 — senior Mike Molina and freshman Evan Staley — and recently signed Western Kentucky transfer Skyler Simcox.
Among the other players who won’t be returning in 2018 are nose tackle Jalen Harvey (five tackles in five games this season), backup center Ray Raulerson, reserve linemen Alec Shriner (six appearances on defense in 2016), and receiver Ricky Rogers (three catches in 12 games over three seasons).