Defensive lineman Pat Liebig was cleared Tuesday by the NCAA to play for West Virginia this season. It’ll be his sixth year of eligibility.

The sports information release follows.

West Virginia University football coach Bill Stewart has announced that defensive lineman Pat Liebig received clearance today by the NCAA to play his senior season for the Mountaineers.

The 6-4, 295-pound senior from Naples, Fla., sat out the 2007 season when he returned home to run his family business and to care for his ailing father. Liebig petitioned the NCAA for his final year of eligibility earlier this summer and has been granted his senior year for the 2008 season.

“The entire Mountaineer nation is thrilled with the great news that we received from the NCAA today. Pat Liebig has been granted his senior year of eligibility, and we could not be happier,” Stewart says. “We appreciate the committee’s thoughtfulness and judgment in reaching this decision.

“Pat went home for all the right reasons as he helped his sick father and the family business,” Stewart continued. “The 3.0 plus GPA finance major is truly a quality student-athlete who the state of West Virginia should be proud of. I can only hope that my son Blaine would be as caring in making the same decision.”

Liebig last played in the 2007 Toyota Gator Bowl and has recorded 39 career tackles, and 4.5 tackles for loss as a Mountaineer.