MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s defensive line had its ups and downs in 2025. Before the 2025 season started, defensive coordinator Zac Alley said a point of emphasis would be creating more disruption in the backfield.
Through the first couple of games, the Mountaineers were top 5 in the NCAA in sacks, which was a major improvement from 2024, when they struggled to disrupt the quarterback. That lasted about three games, then WVU went four games without a sack. WVU picked up the pace towards the end of the season, and actually had a season-high seven sacks against Colorado.
But a lot of the top linemen and backfield disrupters aren’t returning for 2026. They’ve either transferred, like Hammond Russell to Wisconsin, or run out of eligibility, like Devin Grant. Linebacker Ben Cutter is the returner with the most sacks in 2025, and he was 10th and had just one. Corey McIntyre Jr. is the only defensive line returner to register a stat in sacks, and he had just half a sack.
WVU had a lot of work to do rebuilding the defensive line room, and like last year, Rich Rodriguez and his staff used the transfer portal to bring in game-ready players. Rodriguez picked up five defensive linemen in the portal, varying in talent and experience.
The biggest splash was acquiring young Oregon pass rusher Tobi Haastrup. Haastrup didn’t play in his lone season with the Ducks, but had an impressive high school career as a former 4-star. Haastrup had 48 total tackles, including 20 tackles for loss, nine sacks and 23 quarterback hurries in his senior year, earning him a spot in the Navy All-American Bowl. Haastrup received offers from Florida State, LSU, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas A&M and other Power Four programs.
Haastrup is a stud at 6-foot-3, 252 pounds, who could make a Day 1 impact, and if retained, should be a big piece going forward.
To counteract the younger addition with Haastrup, WVU picked up more experienced transfers with Coastal Carolina’s Zeke Durham-Campbell, Bowling Green’s David Afogho and Western Kentucky’s Harper Holloman, who all have multiple seasons under their belt and combined for nine sacks a season ago. Durham-Campbell was actually WVU’s top-rated pass rusher during this transfer cycle.
In terms of true interior defensive linemen, WVU didn’t do too much in the portal. Based on 247Sports and other recruiting sites, Division II transfer Will LeBlanc was the only real interior defensive lineman to join WVU. He had a couple of Division I offers, had 32 tackles, five tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and four quarterback hits. But most defensive linemen can shift about based on needs, and Durham-Campbell is already listed on WVU’s online roster as a D-lineman to help in that department.
The high school and JUCO recruiting is where WVU added the most defensive linemen, hoping to patch up the holes for years to come. WVU had six players enroll this offseason as defensive linemen. Two more were listed as bandits, who are essentially pass rushers. On WVU’s work-in-progress roster, six of them are listed as defensive linemen, and Jeremiah Johnson, who was listed as a bandit, is now listed as a pass rusher. Three of them are more experienced and are JUCO commits, so they should make more of an impact in 2026, but it’ll still take some getting used to playing at the next level. Some haven’t joined the team yet, like Noah Tishendorf, who was listed as a bandit on the recruiting roster.
There are some returners from last year’s team. Defensive lineman Nate Gabriel didn’t get to the quarterback, but he had 13 tackles and played in 12 games. McIntyre also had that half a sack and 10 tackles. A lot of the expected impact players, like Asani Redwood, who had 23 tackles, transferred out. Most of the returners don’t have a lot of reps.
Even if they don’t have too many game reps, the returners, who at least know the system, and the experienced transfers, like Durham-Campbell, will do a lot of the heavy lifting for the 2026 season. With that strong end to the season, WVU did finish top 5 in the Big 12 in sacks. It’ll be on these new players to ensure the disruption is more consistent throughout the 2026 season.
