University of Nevada quarterback Jax Leatherwood is actually considered short when compared to the college football program’s recent signal-callers. He is not short.
Leatherwood, a true freshman, stands 6-foot-8, 245 pounds. The San Diego-native is an absolute unit.
As a three-star recruit in the Class of 2023, Leatherwood chose the Wolfpack over one other offer from San Diego State. Colorado, Dartmouth, Penn and Utah Tech also showed interest.
Had he stayed healthy during his senior season on the high school level, things may have gone differently. His ceiling, according to Nevada quarterback coach Nate Costa, is extremely high.
Leatherwood completed 243 passes for 2,915 yards and 52 touchdowns as a junior and earned a spot on the All-CIF San Diego Section First Team. His senior year ended after a knee injury during the season-opener, but tape from a year prior was more than enough to earn him a D-I scholarship.
Leatherwood also played basketball and volleyball while at Scripps Ranch. When he wasn’t crushing balls down the line as an outside hitter, or slinging the pill on the gridiron, he was throwing down huge dunks on the hardwood.
Leatherwood ultimately forwent his spring sports as a senior and chose to enroll early in Reno. His presence was felt as soon as he stepped foot on campus because he is not hard to miss!
Come June, Leatherwood was crushing bananas. Pause?
Now, in September, Leatherwood is in his second semester at Nevada as the third-string quarterback. There is a high probability of a redshirt year.
That doesn’t make him any less important. Leatherwood is in charge of relaying the play-call signals from the coaches’ booth to the field from the sideline.
Video from last weekend’s game against Kansas showed him towering over his teammates.
There are only two other players on the Wolfpack roster who stand 6-foot-8— a left tackle and a tight end. And then there’s Leatherwood, the quarterback.
To make it even more interesting, Leatherwood filled former quarterback Nate Cox’s scholarship. Cox was the tallest quarterback in college football history at 6-foot-9!
Nevada apparently loves tall quarterbacks.