WVU Will Be Down Another Linebacker Against Army Tomorrow

West Virginia linebacker Exree Loe announced on his Instagram Wednesday morning that he will not play in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl against Army tomorrow.

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A junior, Loe played in all nine games this season with 46 total tackles, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Without Loe, WVU will be down two of its top four off-ball linebackers as senior Tony Fields II has opted out of the bowl game.

WVU has two off-ball linebacker positions, mike and will. Fields played mike all season and earlier this week, WVU coach Neal Brown said the plan for the bowl game would be to move junior Josh Chandler-Semedo from will to mike for the game. However, Loe is Chandler-Semedo’s primary backup at will linebacker, which could make it more difficult for him to play mike on Thursday. Brown said senior Dylan Tonkery could also play some at mike linebacker.

“You don’t just replace [Fields], but we do feel like we have some guys that are going to be able to play the mike position that are going to be extremely productive,” Brown said. “We’re really looking forward to playing [Tonkery’s] last game and I know he’ll give his best effort. Josh [Chandler-Semedo] will play some at mike too. He’s a guy that’s done that, he’s spelled Tony throughout the year.”

WVU and Army will kick off at 4 p.m. tomorrow from the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.