WVU Football Fans React With Class To News That Nicco Marchiol Is Departing Program

The news came out on Wednesday that Nicco Marchiol will be departing the WVU football program at the end of the season and entering the transfer portal, coming just hours after it was announced Marchiol plans on taking a medical redshirt for the rest of he season.

Rumors had begun to circulate that Marchiol's career with the Mountaineers may be coming to an end as early as last week, when WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez announced to the media that Marchiol was dealing with "mid-foot pain" and was consulting with specialists in Colorado, where Marchiol is originally from.

Rumors began to heat up even further after Rodriguez disclosed Marchiol would be out for "several weeks" due to the injury, and that he was also seeing specialists in Arizona where he attended high school. Once the official news broke that he was pursuing a redshirt, most people assumed the final piece of news that was then yet-to-come was a formality, and that Marchiol would be bidding farewell to the program.

Over the past few days, some fans on social media began to assume Marchiol may not be back and began to bid their farewells, and the trend heated up Wednesday after the medical redshirt announcement before the dam broke with the final news that Marchiol plans to enter the portal.

The response may surprise some, but a fan base known for at times shunning certain departures is ready to embrace an age-old slogan for those who leave the program as beloved figures - Once A Mountaineer, Always A Mountaineer. There have been a couple jokes and memes about Marchiol bolting to another program, or similarities to Tucker DeVries' season-ending injury last basketball season. We even included a couple below, because we all need a chuckle at a time like this.

But for the most part, it has been nothing but a show of respect from WVU fans towards Marchiol. He is, after all, a player who played a crucial role in two Backyard Brawl victories and spent the last four years in Morgantown, even giving the program one final chance when the coach that recruited him was fired. So let's take a look at the absolute class displayed by West Virginia fans as Marchiol is set to leave the program – and a couple of the funny reactions, as well.