Former University of Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura is no longer a student or football player at Texas State University, the school he transferred to last week after two seasons in Tucson playing for the Wildcats.
TSU issued a one sentence statement Wednesday saying de Laura had “withdrawn as a student” from the San Marcos, Texas, campus, and “will not be part of the Texas State football program.”
De Laura’s exit from TSU comes a week after multiple news outlets reported that he had settled a civil lawsuit with a woman who said he and a high school football teammate sexually assaulted her in Honolulu when the three were juveniles.
Terms of the settlement, which, according to court records, appears to have been finalized on Jan. 16, are confidential. It was just one day earlier that de Laura, who announced in December his intent to transfer from the UA, said on social media that he’d settled on Texas State as the destination for his would-be final season of college football.
A judge approved the civil case settlement last week after days of mediation earlier this month, according to court records.
Also settling the case at the same time were the other football player, University of Wisconsin safety Kamoi Latu, and the private high school where he and de Laura played, Saint Louis School in Honolulu, reports Hawaii News Now. The plaintiff said she was sexually assaulted in a parking garage stairwell at the school on Oct. 27, 2018.
De Laura and Latu were prosecuted and accepted responsibility in juvenile court for the 2018 assault case, Hawaii News Now reported. The woman filed the civil suit on Dec. 2, 2021.
He and Latu had previously negotiated a financial settlement in the lawsuit, but a judge rejected it on Aug. 31, 2023, ruling that the woman suing shouldn’t have accepted an amount she saw as “too low” from de Laura, Latu and their parents, now that the players’ incomes grew substantially because they are allowed to earn money as college athletes from their names, images and likenesses.
In that ruling, Lisa W. Cataldo of Hawaii Circuit Court wrote that she “cannot reach a good faith settlement determination” because: “... Plaintiff has unwavering and rock-solid confidence in her case and her likelihood of success at trial, and approximates her total damages at greater than seven figures.”
The proposed settlement agreements were filed under seal, the judge wrote, so they are not publicly available, and the dollar figures, as well as the players’ incomes, are confidential.
The woman is named in the court documents, but the Arizona Daily Star does not generally name alleged victims of sexual assault.
TSU’s student newspaper, The University Star, reported on Jan. 19 that the a statement from the university at that time said “the matter” involving de Laura “does not violate the Texas State University Code of Student Conduct or athletics misconduct policies” and that he would be considered in good standing as a student and football player.
When news of the civil case first surfaced last year while de Laura was considered Arizona’s starting quarterback, the UA issued a similar statement, saying that “after reviewing the matter, the determination was made to allow de Laura to continue as a student-athlete and his status remains unchanged.”
De Laura told reporters in July last year: “There’s nothing I would like to do but clear my name if I could, (to) defend myself from what’s being written. However, I hope you understand that I’m bound by the law to not discuss this matter at all.”
VIDEO: Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura reads a prepared statement during the Pac-12's preseason football media event in Las Vegas, Friday, July 21, 2023. Video courtesy Pac-12
Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura throws a pass in the first half of the Wildcats’ 31-24 loss to Mississippi State on Saturday in Starkville, Miss.
