Even as adversity mounted, Washington State’s Jayden de Laura kept spirits high against USC

Vinny Passas has mentored all the great quarterbacks that have come through Honolulu’s Saint Louis High School – the ones whose names end with Gesser, Chang, Arceneaux, Masoli, Mariota, Tagovailoa, Cordeiro and, most recently, de Laura.

Passas has worked for Saint Louis in an official capacity as its quarterbacks coach, but he usually gets to know his signal-callers before they get to high school through the “Get Better” QB clinics he holds on the side, designed for players of all ages and skill levels.

Passas knows their tendencies better than anyone else – what they do well, what they don’t do well and how they respond to positive and negative experiences on a football field.

Passas’ quarterbacks haven’t experienced too much of the latter, and his latest protege, Washington State true freshman Jayden de Laura, made it through his first two college starts without many hiccups, passing for 548 yards, four touchdowns with one interception and rushing for another score in games against Oregon State and Oregon.

Instead, the hiccups came in start No. 3 – one after another after another against No. 20 USC last Sunday at the Coliseum.

But, even as de Laura threw a pair of interceptions in the first quarter, contributed to a fumble in the third and squandered other opportunities to keep the chains moving, anyone keeping a close eye on the player wearing WSU’s No. 4 may have noticed the young quarterback keeping his composure and constantly offering pick-me-ups to teammates who looked much more deflated than he was.

Passas expected as much.

“When the other team scores, he’ll be walking up the sideline, ‘All right, this is our turn, this is our chance right here. Let’s get it back,’ ” Passas, who now resides in Las Vegas, told The Spokesman-Review in October. “Or if he’d turn the ball over, he’d be going up and down the sideline, ‘OK, that was my bad, we’ll get this back and we’ll get it back right here.’ ”

Right on cue, when de Laura threw his second interception, trying to hit Lucas Bacon on a short crossing pattern, the QB returned to the sideline, located the WSU receiver on the bench and offered a high-five before tapping his chest twice to motion “my bad.”

“He dealt with the adversity good,” WSU receiver Travell Harris said. “He was always coming up to the sideline, communicating, having guys up. At the end of the day, it’s a team game and we’ve all got to do our part as one unit and it’s not just about Jayden or me or coach Rolo. We’ve all got to come together and do it as one unit.

“But Jayden had excellent energy. He did a good job.”

Over the next two, three or four years, it’s inevitable de Laura will be juxtaposed against his predecessors at Saint Louis.

It’s unlikely a TV crew will make it through a full broadcast without mentioning the high school’s impressive QB lineage – as was the case when Tua Tagovailoa played at Alabama and Marcus Mariota at Oregon.

It’s true, they all possess intangibles that seem exclusive to QBs who’ve learned under Passas’ tutelage. The past four Saint Louis starters – de Laura, Chevan Cordeiro, Tagovailoa and Mariota – are all talented passers who can stump even the best defensive coverages with their ability to improvise.

But that doesn’t mean they carry themselves the same way when they return to the sideline.

“Well, Marcus and Chevan, they were like quiet leaders. They just led by examples. They all do, but they never pushed guys or yelled at guys or get in their face – that kind of leader,” Passas said. “Where Tua and Jayden, they were that kind of guy. They were getting in guys’ face, like, ‘Come on, let’s get this right and let’s get better at it.’ (De Laura) let them know when the guys are not giving their full effort.

“… He spoke a lot on the sideline, whereas the other two guys were more quiet. Jayden’s a little bit more excitable, and they all want to win so bad.”

With the game out of reach for the Cougars, de Laura was replaced by Gunner Cruz and Cammon Cooper in the fourth quarter against USC. In many ways, de Laura’s day was finished, but his job wasn’t.

The youngster was a positive reinforcement on the sideline, striding up and down with the offense, clapping his hands and encouraging his fellow QBs, who offered the same support to de Laura despite losing a position battle to the freshman in fall camp.

“I think it’s been consistent with them in their room, credit to coach Stutz (Craig Stutzmann) for cultivating a positive group,” WSU head coach Nick Rolovich said. “Even though they’re competing, there is a friendship that has grown.

“They’re all somewhat different individuals, but they get along. I think they welcomed Jayden in, especially guys that have been around here. … I didn’t notice a ton of that body language … that’s good to hear after getting our butt kicked in the first quarter so bad.”

Cougars offensive lineman Jarrett Kingston said de Laura has moved on from what was would’ve been just his third loss in high school or college.

“He’s actually been really good,” Kingston said. “I saw him in the training room and he looks pretty good. He was smiling, he was having a good time. I think it’s all behind him.”