Saturday Storylines: Jayden de Laura returns to Pullman for first time since joining Arizona

Five storylines for Arizona's showdown with 19th-ranked Washington State in Pullman on Saturday afternoon.

De Laura returns to old stomping grounds  

The last time Jayden de Laura played a game at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington, the Arizona quarterback threw four touchdown passes and led the Washington State Cougars to a 44-18 win over, well, the Wildcats in their first season under head coach Jedd Fisch in 2021.  

After transferring to Arizona the following season, de Laura inadvertently helped the Cougars beat the Wildcats with four interceptions thrown to his former team, one week after saying, "Just watch," when asked about facing the team he played for from 2020-21. De Laura also got into a kerfuffle with former UA receiver Dorian Singer on the sideline in that 31-20 loss. 

De Laura, who is a "game-time decision" after missing the last two games with an ankle injury, said last season's game against the Cougars was "personal." So what does it mean for Saturday, when the Wildcats face No. 19 Washington State and his WSU successor Cameron Ward in Pullman, which is also coincidentally homecoming weekend? If last year's game was personal, double it for de Laura this time around. 

In two seasons at Washington State, de Laura passed for 3,684 yards, 28 touchdowns and 13 interceptions and led the Cougars to the Sun Bowl in 2021. Prior to his second season in February 2021, de Laura was arrested for suspicion of DUI but was later found not guilty later that summer. Two years later at Arizona, a lawsuit surfaced accusing de Laura of sexual assault tied to an incident that occurred while he was in high school. De Laura’s attorneys denied the accusations.

Just after the ’21 season, WSU head coach Jake Dickert hired Incarnate Word head coach Eric Morris as offensive coordinator, who brought Ward along via the transfer portal, after de Laura transferred. 

"My message to Jayden is always the same," Fisch said. "'When you play with poise and play with confidence, you're one of the best quarterbacks in the country — and you've proven that.' ... When he plays like he does in the eight (games) that he started and won, he was very poised and didn't let the emotions get in the way of the game. ... If he plays like that, then I have no doubt that he can compete with anyone in the country.

"If the emotions get the best of him or of any player, they're never going to be at their best. So we have to ignore the noise. We have to be able to play smart, good football and not turn the ball over, protect the team and make great decisions. That's the message I'll give him."

The Wildcats "fully expect Jayden to dress this week, even if he's at 90%." If not fully healthy, Pac-12 Freshman of the Week Noah Fifita will start his third straight game, after throwing for eight touchdown passes and two interceptions in one-possession losses to Washington and USC. 

"If (de Laura) is at 100%, he’ll dress and start,” Fisch said. “He will be in full pads and ready to go, and if not starting, (we) hope he’ll be healthy enough to be the emergency situation.”

Arizona offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll said the way de Laura plays, "it kinda requires (mobility), so we're going to make sure he's ready to go when we put him out there."

"But the game is the game. As much as you can make it into other things, just go play the game," Carroll said. "Like we did this past week, like we did the week before, just go out there and play the game. The results will hopefully take care of itself." 

The game aside, Fisch doesn't think de Laura's return to Pullman "is a really big deal though."

"We played them already, we didn't play very well," Fisch said. "We lost 31-20 and our job is to play better than that with a much better team than we had a year ago."

Fisch said during his weekly radio show that he's not opposed to making a quarterback change in the middle of a game. Considering how de Laura performed last season against the Cougars, coupled with Fifita's rise and a bye week looming, this week could determine Arizona's quarterback for the remainder of the season. 

Voice of the Wildcats returns to Palouse one last time

When Brian Jeffries, the Arizona Wildcats' longtime radio play-by-play broadcaster, was an aspiring sportscaster at 14 years old, the Tacoma, Washington, native sought career advice from Bob Robertson, who broadcasted Washington State football and basketball games for decades. 

"He just did wonders for me," Jeffries said of Robertson. "He became a great friend and a great colleague. ... One of the all-time greats in the business."

As a Washington native, Jeffries "saw a lot of games between the Huskies and the Cougars over the years."

"That was always a tradition, in particular football to see that game either in Seattle or a couple in Pullman. Sometimes they'd play the Apple Cup in Spokane, so it was easier to get to Spokane if you lived on the west side," Jeffries said. "I remember one of the coldest days of my life at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane, sitting on the concrete steps, watching the Huskies and Cougars play. It's always nice to go back to the home state." 

Jeffries joined Spears and Ali on ESPN Tucson Friday morning to reflect on the Arizona-WSU series and what's next for the Cougars as one of two members of the Pac-12 alongside Oregon State in 2024.

What are the most notable games you broadcasted in the Arizona-Washington State series?

A: "When you say 'notable,' that could go either way. The Cougars put up 69 on Arizona in back-to-back trips to Pullman. I don't look back fondly on those games, but when you talk about notable, those were two games that hurt. This has been a high-scoring series as of late, as you all know. In between those 69-point games, Arizona scored 58 on the Cougars in Tucson back about five or six years ago. It just seems like over the last decade, we've just seen a lot of points scored between the two teams, and so it's the same thing that we've talked about the last couple weeks. Arizona has to find a way to get points on the board, because the team they're playing is certainly capable of doing that. ... 

"I think quarterback play on both sides has been interesting to watch, whether it's Matt Scott, Nick Foles (Tom) Tunnifcliffe, you could go on from there. Then of course Washington State — I mean, from Drew Bledsoe, Ryan Leaf, Jason Gesser. ... That's what I remember. Arizona's great quarterbacks, Washington State's great quarterbacks and some of the games like that. ... There's been some crazy games between the two and I wouldn't be surprised if the see the same this week."

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What do you want to see happen with the Cougars in 2024 when every team from the conference splinters?

A: "I don't know how to put this, but that's kind of their problem. I think it's a shame of course. The Pac-12's demise is a very sad point in the history of sports and college sports in particular. For Washington State and Oregon State to be left in the lurch, it's tough to see, because I think those schools deserve to be in a major conference. But at the same time, I understand why they haven't been invited yet. What do they do in the future? Do they try and rebuild the Pac-12, which is impossible, because no matter who you might bring into the fold, none of them are going to match Arizona, ASU, USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, etc." 

WR3, where are you?

Arizona wide receivers Jacob Cowing and Tetairoa McMillan have combined for 13 of Arizona's 17 touchdown catches this season.

Cowing leads the Pac-12 with 47 receptions and eight touchdowns, including a single-game program record with four at USC, while McMillan is third in the conference with 524 receiving yards. Arizona tight end Tanner McLachlan is third on the Wildcats with 19 receptions. Running backs Jonah Coleman and Michael Wiley have combined for 31 catches and Colorado transfer Montana Lemonious-Craig, filling in the role of Dorian Singer, has 12 receptions for 132 yards and a touchdown. 

Finding that third go-to pass-catcher has "been a weird season in that regard, because if you look at Montana, Tanner, Mike Wiley, they're all like the third receiver in terms of production," Fisch said.

Later added Fisch: "For this offense to be what I really want it to be, you have to able to produce at all three receiver spots at a high number. ... But we gotta get that next guy up there in order for us to be the type of offense I know we can turn into."

Adding more money to dollar package

Arizona's "dollar" package, a 3-1-7 scheme composed of mostly defensive backs to counter pass-centric offenses, has been a staple in the Wildcats' defense since late last season, especially against elite passing attacks in Washington and USC. 

Led by Ward, Washington State is averaging 365.6 yards per game this season, which is third nationally, so the dollar package is expected to have a significant presence on Saturday. 

The Wildcats added senior transfer and backup nickelback Martell Irby to the dollar package last week at USC. Irby replaced safety Isaiah Taylor and joined cornerbacks Ephesians Prysock, Tacario Davis and Dylan Wyatt, alongside safeties Gunner Maldonado, Dalton Johnson and Genesis Smith. 

"His leadership has been outstanding for our team," Arizona defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen said of Irby. "We need to put him on the field. He has amazing passion and he makes things happen. He finds the ball. He's one of those guys that you gotta have on the field, so we're going to try and feature him more in the dollar package this week, too."

Irby is the highest-rated Arizona player (82.2) and pass-coverage defender (85.1) on Pro Football Focus, and has one forced fumble and one fumble recovery this season.

Nansen 'has really grown into being an outstanding defensive coordinator' 

This game is personal for two Arizona defensive coaches: cornerbacks coach John Richardson, who coached under Rolovich, and Nansen, who played linebacker for the Cougars from 1992-96. The Cougars beat Utah in the Copper Bowl at Arizona Stadium in Nansen's first season. 

"It was fun," Nansen said. "Learned a lot, had some great coaches, met a lot of great friends, and I met my wife there, so that's what I remember the most."

Where did Nansen meet his wife? 

"Library," Nansen joked. 

In Year 2 under Nansen, the Wildcats defense have shaved down its total yards allowed per game from 468 in 2022 to 350 this season. Arizona's rushing defense, which was the eighth-worst in college football last season, has gone from 209 yards allowed per game to 107. 

In the first six games, the Wildcats have allowed 138 total points; last season, Arizona was surrendering 208 at this point. For this season, Arizona is only allowing 23 points per contest, which includes four overtime periods. 

"Going from his first year as a defensive coordinator to his second year as a defensive coordinator, the growth has been very easy to document," Fisch said. "It's not hard to find statistics that can certainly indicate the leaps and bounds in how much better we've gotten over one year. ... Johnny, his staff on defense have all done a fantastic job of knowing how to put guys in the right position. What you can see is there is a mentality in how we play, there's a physicality, there's a swarm to the ball, there's a mentality of 'we're going to get as many guys around the ball as possible on every single play.'

"And I think Johnny has really grown into being an outstanding defensive coordinator."