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Raelon Singleton leaves Utah with one season of eligibility remaining

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Utes wide receiver Raelon Singleton (11) stretches out after a catch as the University of Utah hosts Washington State, NCAA football in Salt Lake City, Saturday November 11, 2017.

Utah wide receiver Raelon Singleton will not use his final season of eligibility at Utah and is leaving the program, which leaves the Utes without their top two receivers from 2017.

Singleton, a redshirt junior and two-year starter, has decided to leave the program for “family reasons,” Utah announced on Thursday.

“We are sorry to see Raelon leave, but understand that his family comes first,” Utes coach Kyle Whittingham said in the release. “We appreciate his contributions to our program over the last four years and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”

Singleton, a resident of Crosby, Texas, will finish the semester and is scheduled to graduate in May. He tweeted on Thursday night that he will play somewhere else next season as a graduate transfer.

The Utes’ second-leading receiver in each of the past two seasons, Singleton played in all 13 games this past season (11 starts) and ranked second on the team in receiving yards (531), receptions (36) and receiving touchdowns (four).

He turned in a season-high 87 yards on six catches against Washington State, and followed that with two touchdowns and 81 yards receiving against Washington.

Singleton, a cousin of record-setting Utah quarterback Brian Johnson, finished his career having played in 34 games with 69 receptions for 1,044 yards and eight touchdowns. The bulk of his contributions came in the past two seasons as a starter. He caught 63 passes for 995 yards and eight touchdowns combined in his sophomore and junior seasons.

Singleton would have been the team’s leading receiving going into next season. Now, the Utes will go into spring practice having lost both Singleton and leading receiver and All-Pac-12 honoree Darren Carrington II (70 receptions, 980 yards, six touchdowns).