Spring guarantees a few things will happen during WSU football practice. Quarterbacks will take their snaps from the shotgun, wide-outs will be especially busy catching passes, and Head Coach Mike Leach will yell his fair share of four-letter words.

All of these things, except for maybe the last one, are typical of any program that runs the fairly new-fangled Air Raid offense. Because a team that specializes in the Air Raid can throw the ball upward of 60 times in a single game, the emphasis on passing in practice is justified.

However, because of the intense focus on the aerial attack, Air Raid teams sometimes neglect their run game and as a result lose offensive balance and become predictable.

For this reason the Cougars should keep their running backs involved in the offense during the upcoming season.

One of the oldest existing football philosophies is that balance is necessary to achieving offensive success. If an offense becomes predictable, the defense can simply mold its game plan to take away the one thing an offense can do well.

Leach’s offense doesn’t have enough room in it to give a running back 20 carries per game or to produce a ton of 100-yard rushers.  However, the system offers others way running backs can be utilized.

“Running backs are very important here because we ask them to do so much,” WSU’s running back Coach Jim Mastro said. “They have to be receivers. They have to be running backs. They have to be pass blockers. They have to be kick returners. They have to be punt returners.”

To say the very least, WSU running backs found more ways to get involved in the offense in 2013.

Last season, Cougar running backs averaged 21.3 touches and 116.9 yards per game. Whereas in 2012, the backs had a per-game average of 72.7 yards on fewer than 18 touches.

The result? The 2012 team went 3-9 and won only one Pac-12 game, and the 2013 Cougars went to the Gildan New Mexico Bowl.

Redshirt senior running back Theron West, who scored his first career touchdown in the 2013 New Mexico Bowl, said he thinks the entire offensive unit will only improve in the 2014 season.

“Most of the guy’s on our offense are experienced, and I think that’s the key,” West said. “This offense is clicking, and every single one of us is used to it because it’s a fun offense and it gets you out in space and lets guys make plays.”

West and fellow running backs senior Marcus Mason and junior Teondray Caldwell will likely fill the top-three running back spots on WSU’s depth chart. As the Cougars have both depth and experience at the running back position, one can hope to see increased production from the backfield.

More production from the running backs means a better chance of a Cougar victory, or so the numbers would say.

In WSU’s nine victories during the last two seasons, Cougar running backs averaged 121 yards and 1.3 touchdowns on just more than 23 carries per game. Comparing those numbers to the 79 yards and 0.5 touchdowns on 18 carries the running backs averaged in the Cougars’ 16 defeats, it is clearly a better performances by Cougar running backs mean better chances for WSU victories.

“Production is going to go up in 2014 because this group is experienced, and we all have extreme talent,” West said. “We’re going to run harder and faster, and we’re not going to hesitate or think too much. We’re going to just have fun.”

Simply resolving to run the ball more is not necessarily a feasible plan for the WSU coaching staff. Mastro said Leach’s offense adapts to take advantage of what the defense gives it.

“It depends on the game, that week, what teams are doing to us,” Mastro said. “If a defense gives us a good run box, we’re going to run the ball, and if they load the box, we’re going to throw the ball, and that’s just how this offense is predicated.”

Regardless of how often the option to run presents itself, the Cougars should make use of their talented and experienced backfield in one facet or another because failing to do so has historically proved detrimental.

During the last two years, WSU is 0-5 in games in which the running backs have 10 or fewer touches and 0-7 when their running backs gain fewer than 60 yards from scrimmage.