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Quarterback commit Jayden de Laura, the Washington State Cougars’ top-ranked recruit in the 2020 class, put to rest any fears that he might ask out of his letter of intent by saying he was “pumped” that former Hawaii Warriors coach Nick Rolovich would be WSU’s next head coach.
Saint Louis QB & Washington State commit @jayden_delaura ‘pumped’ for the hiring of #Hawaii’s Nick Rolovich as head coach for the Cougars // For more coverage https://t.co/2kUWuiGhmP @c_shimabuku // https://t.co/SOdY37JnAf pic.twitter.com/mqlWlnLp3T
— Rob DeMello (@RobDeMelloKHON) January 14, 2020
“He’s the first one to offer me my sophomore year before I started playing,” said de Laura, who, coincidentally, is from Hawaii. “He was really recruiting me hard, so it’s great to be playing for him now. I’m pumped (to be) running the exact same offense we ran in high school — stuff I’m similar with and just can’t wait to get out there.”
When de Laura committed to WSU after a relatively brief recruiting courtship, he said it was because he was excited to run the Air Raid under its guru, Mike Leach. So when Leach left for the Mississippi St. Bulldogs, it only made sense to wonder if de Laura was still as sold on WSU as he was before — particularly because interest in him from bigger schools ticked up after his commitment to the Cougars. He is a high-three star recruit by 247sports’ composite metric, but rated four stars by Rivals.
Apparently, we don’t have to worry about that. And good thing: de Laura’s skill set seems tailor made for Rolovich’s Run and Shoot, in which the quarterback is expected to be a running threat. De Laura can certainly be described as a dual threat.
If you’re wondering whether he can compete with holdover QBs Cammon Cooper and Gunner Cruz for the 2020 starting job ... well, de Laura indicated he’ll be enrolling in the summer. It’ll be interesting to see if he can make noise without the benefit of spring practices.