Tad Ecby and DeVondrick Nealy Leave Iowa State

Sources close to Iowa State's football program have confirmed to WRNL that starting running back DeVondrick Nealy and wide receiver Tad Ecby have left the program.

If you follow message board chatter you know this is the worst kept secret in Ames, but multiple sources have said neither man has been around the program in the past few weeks and are seeking out the greener pastures of somewhere that isn't the Bergstrom Football Complex.

The toughest pill to swallow is that Nealy is no longer a part of the Cyclone football team. Nealy rushed for 273 yards on 71 carries in the 2014 season for an average of 3.8 yards per carry. He was third on the team in rushing yards behind senior running back Aaron Wimberly and quarterback Sam Richardson.

Nealy's best game of the season was in the 34-31 loss to Texas Tech, when he gained 87 yards on the ground on only seven carries and added one reception for 22 yards. With Nealy's departure, the title of starting running back for this year's team falls into the lap of either Michael Warren, Tyler Brown or Martinez Syria.

Ecby picked up 236 yards on eight receptions last season, good enough for the fifth most receiving yards on the team.

With the emergence of Allen Lazard and D'Vario Montgomery, along with the impending return of 2013 breakout star Quenton Bundrage, the wide receiver position is still very solid at the top of the depth chart, but has lost a lot of breathing room now that Ecby, PJ Harris and Damien Lawry are gone.

Both Nealy and Ecby were entering their redshirt senior year.

We drove by Jack Trice Stadium earlier and were able to snap the picture below:

We'll have more as this story develops.