Squally Canada leaves WSU football

The Cougars were already a little thin at running back and they just got slimmer. Redshirting freshman running back Squally Canada has left the program, first reported by Cougfan.com ($). They report players had been talking about Canada's departure as early as Saturday. He is expected to finish the semester.

As usual, we don't get a stated reason as to why a player left but we can read the tea leaves a little. Canada would've been a redshirt freshman next year with redshirt sophomores Gerard Wicks and Jamal Morrow likely ahead of him on the depth chart. Keith Harrington, currently listed as a wide receiver on the roster, has been working at running back recently as well according to Jacob Thorpe. Assuming Wicks and Morrow continued to improve, Canada would've likely had to wait until his redshirt senior year to get meaningful carries. It's still a little surprising considering the praise he was drawing from coaches through fall camp; though in a pass heavy system, a running back wishing to go elsewhere probably shouldn't be surprising.

The bigger concern for Washington State will be their depth at running back. With Canada's departure, they'll have just two running backs on the roster come spring camp (if we don't include Harrington who is still listed as a wide receiver). The Cougs do have two running backs verbally committed in the 2015 class but Dominic Davis would rather play in the slot while James Williams seems to be just fine where he is.

The running backs were already going to be young next year. Now, they won't be deep. Fingers crossed Wicks and Morrow, who have shown in flashes they might be the best running backs to come through WSU in a while, stay healthy.