UA QB downplays matchup vs. WSU
When he was first asked about facing Washington State, his former school, Jayden de Laura nodded his head sternly. It was as if a button had been pushed.
“Just watch,” de Laura said. “This game, it’s personal.”
De Laura made those comments in the immediate aftermath of Arizona’s upset victory over UCLA on Saturday night. It was a grueling, back-andforth battle, and de Laura was still feeling the effects.
He was much more measured when he met the media Tuesday. The closest de Laura came to providing more motivational fodder for the Cougars was when he acknowledged he was “looking for an opportunity to play them” while seeking a new home in the offseason.
“And an opportunity presents itself this upcoming week,” de Laura said. “So we’re just preparing as a team the best we can: treatment, study, class, film, practice, everything.”
De Laura spoke calmly — almost matter-of-factly — about WSU, where he spent his first two seasons. He transferred after the school made Jake Dickert its full-time head coach and hired a new offensive coordinator. Those moves came on the heels of WSU firing Nick Rolovich.
“At the end of the day, it’s just another opponent,” de Laura said. “We just go in this week, grind, watch the film. And then, offensively and defensively, we go out there on game day and do our thing.”
Can de Laura keep his cool Saturday? Saying WSU is “just another opponent” is one thing; remaining levelheaded in the moment is quite another.
“I would love to say that it’s gonna be just another game for everybody,” UA coach Jedd Fisch said. “I would assume that it’s going to have some form of an impact on Jayden. He was the starting quarterback there. He was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year there. And now he’s here.
“It’s Jayden’s job to make sure it doesn’t affect him and he doesn’t play the game any differently. That he goes out there and he executes in the manner that he executed last week. And I believe he will.
“As you all know, I believe in Jayden de Laura very much. If he could just play within himself and not let the opponent affect him and treat them like they’re nameless and faceless, in a lot of ways that will help him and all of us.”
When UA defensive end Hunter Echols faced his former school, USC, earlier this season, he said he felt “no real emotion” about facing the Trojans. But Echols jawed with his former teammates during warmups.
De Laura conceded that the on-field chatter Saturday likely will be more heated than usual.
“It’s gonna be fun, though,” de Laura said. “I know we’re gonna be saying stuff to each other, but it’s just all within the game.”
The Cougars aren’t biting, at least not yet. Asked by reporters in Pullman about de Laura’s initial comments, defensive end Brennan Jackson said WSU’s focus is to “stop the Arizona Wildcats, not just one player.”
“People (are) gonna talk,” WSU tailback Nakia Watson said. “We know what we have to do.”