{"id":7413,"date":"2017-07-12T18:45:43","date_gmt":"2017-07-12T22:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosoncfb.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=7413"},"modified":"2017-07-12T18:45:43","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T22:45:43","slug":"washington-state-cougars-running-backs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2017\/07\/12\/washington-state-cougars-running-backs\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington State Cougars Running Backs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Leach\u2019s Washington State Cougars are known for throwing the ball all over the field. With senior quarterback Luke Falk<\/a> <\/strong>at the helm, the Cougars should have another successful season this year. But most non-Cougars fans are unaware that Wazzu has a staple of running backs that contributed to last season\u2019s successes. The Cougars return their top four running backs from last season. Falk may break some Pac-12 and NCAA records in 2017, but the Cougars will need their running backs to keep improving if they want to contend for a Pac-12 championship.<\/p>\n

Washington State Cougars Running Backs<\/h2>\n

1. <\/strong><\/a>James Williams<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 Redshirt Sophomore<\/h3>\n

James Williams has the most upside of any of the Cougars running backs. He combines the skills of seniors Jamal Morrow<\/a> <\/strong>and Gerard Wicks<\/a> <\/strong>into one player. Williams is a physical running back that can run the ball between the tackles. He showed as a freshman that he can catch the ball out of the backfield, which is critical in a Mike Leach offense. Leach likes playing multiple running backs, so Williams likely won\u2019t play on all three downs. But he has the best chance of taking over the starting position and getting more opportunities than his teammates. He rushed for 584 yards and six touchdowns as a freshman. He\u2019ll easily surpass those numbers if he stays healthy.<\/p>\n

2. Jamal Morrow<\/a> \u2013 Redshirt Senior<\/h3>\n

Jamal Morrow is considered the Cougars\u2019 undersized receiving running back, but he\u2019s so much more than a change of pace back. At 5\u20199, Morrow packs a bigger punch than most other running backs his size. He\u2019ll never be a between the tackles bruiser, but he has rushed for more than six yards per carry each of the last two seasons. He ran for 575 yards and five touchdowns and had 488 receiving yards and another five touchdowns last season. He\u2019ll likely be the Cougars\u2019 third down back because of his receiving abilities.<\/p>\n

3. Gerard Wicks<\/a> \u2013 Redshirt Senior<\/h3>\n

Gerard Wicks is the bruiser of the bunch. He\u2019s a physical runner that can take over games. When the Cougars want to wear down a defense, they hand the ball to Wicks and force opponents to tackle him. He didn\u2019t rush for as many yards last year as he did during his sophomore year, but he found the end zone eleven times on the ground. He has better hands than most bruising running backs, which will give Leach the confidence to play him. Wicks will be the Cougars\u2019 goal line running back again this season.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong><\/a>Keith Harrington<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 Redshirt Junior<\/h3>\n

Keith Harrington hardly saw the field in 2016. He had six rushing yards and twenty receiving yards. Harrington played so sparingly that there were rumors that he\u2019d change positions. He was a receiving threat in 2015, so some speculated that he might be a better wide receiver than running back. Although he hasn\u2019t gotten many opportunities, he proved that he\u2019s a capable runner as a freshman when he rushed for 6.4 yards per carry. He\u2019ll have a hard time cracking the depth chart this season, but he\u2019ll be the replacement if any other running back suffers an injury. He\u2019s more likely to have success in 2018 after Morrow and Wicks graduate as the backup to Williams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cougars Running Backs: Most non-Cougars fans are unaware that Wazzu has a staple of running backs that contributed to last season\u2019s successes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2072,"featured_media":7348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[79,1899,1898,1875,1900,34,92],"class_list":["post-7413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-pac12","tag-college-football","tag-gerard-wicks","tag-jamal-morrow","tag-james-williams","tag-keith-harrington","tag-pac-12","tag-washington-state-cougars"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2072"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}