West Virginia football: Ivan McCartney 2nd WR to leave

Junior wide receiver Ivan McCartney is leaving the West Virginia Mountaineers for "personal reasons," reports Allan Taylor of MetroNews. West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen confirmed the news on Monday, although he was evasive as to whether McCartney left the team for good.

West Virginia players seem to believe that McCartney is probably not returning.

Junior receiver Stedman Bailey, a high school teammate of McCartney's in Miami, called Copeland's exit "a distraction" and suggested McCartney won't be returning either.

"We've just go to move forward without those guys, and that's how we're going to do it," Bailey said.
"For somebody to leave the team in the middle of the season, that's not good at all. But we don't need no dead weight on the team that's not going to come out and help us try to win or be bringing negative energy."

Said senior receiver Tavon Austin of Copeland and McCartney: "They had their reasons for why they want to leave. I like both of them, and I don't question it at all. But we've got to come in and do it with the people we've got."

McCartney wasn't the only receiver to leave the team in the past week, as true freshman Travares Copeland left the team Thursday. West Virginia had to go further into their depth chart in their game last week, as they called upon Ryan Nehlen and Connor Arlia to produce this past weekend. Nehlen caught four passes for 26 yards and a 9-yard touchdown, while Arlia caught three passes for 25 yards.

McCartney has caught nine passes on the year for 112 yards. He's fifth on the team in receiving yards, trailing Bailey, Austin, J.D. Woods, and Andrew Buie.

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