A closer look at WSU's spring football roster

Washington State completed its first spring practice on Thursday and the group that took to Rogers practice field looked quite a bit different than the one that ended last season. We know about the departing seniors, but there were a lot more changes than that.

College football rosters change dramatically every offseason. Some players transfer, some are kicked off the roster while others simply choose to stop playing football. WSU had its share off offseason departures this season with Xavier Cooper, Darryl Monroe, Daquawn Brown and Sebastian LaRue among the group no longer on the roster.  Tana Pritchard, Chester Su'a and Kevin Griffin are also no longer with the team.

While a handful of players departed, some new blood was also added to the roster. That includes several new walk-ons, but also a few early enrollees. With all the change, let's take a closer look with an updated roster and estimated scholarship breakdown.

Let's start with the 2016 signing class. A few players have been added to the roster, but not everyone has. You can see above the italicized players have signed letters of intent but are not yet on the official roster. My guess is those players are still waiting for paperwork to be finalized, either from the NCAA or WSU. Either way the status of Noah Myers, Darrien Molten, Sean Harper, Davis Perrott and Matt Abramo will be something to watch heading into fall camp.

There weren't very many position changes from the end of last season to now. The only notable one being Devonte McClain moving from offensive line to defensive line. He hadn't played much on offense and is buried on the depth chart.

Linebacker looks quite a bit different than the last time we looked, especially the senior class. Monroe, Pritchard and Su'a are no longer with the team, leaving Jeremiah Allison as the only senior linebacker.

The Cougars jump up to 79 scholarship players, up from 75 at the last projection. That number could still change heading into fall with a few of the freshman possibly not qualifying. Walk-ons could also land on scholarship. If all the freshman get in, WSU would have 18 open spots in the 2016 recruiting class. Add in a few early departures and possibly a player or two not qualifying and it shouldn't be a problem for the Cougars to take a full 2016 recruiting class.