Texas State football is coming off of its best season in program history. The Bobcats reached — and won — their first-ever bowl game to go 8-5 in 2023/24.
T.J. Finley was a large part of that success. He completed 67.4% of his passes for a school-record 3,439 yards and 24 touchdowns with just eight interceptions. His legs were also of great value!
It was a breakout year for the 6-foot-7, 255-pound quarterback, who previously started 11 college football games in three years at LSU and Auburn. Finley was fantastic all season and initially announced his decision to return to Texas State with two years of eligibility remaining.
And then everything changed.
In a very surprising move, former Arizona and Washington State quarterback Jayden de Laura committed to play for head coach G.J. Kinne in San Marcos. Nobody saw it coming — especially considering that Finley had just declared his intention to come back.
Finley was not aware that de Laura was going to join the program. He was left in the dark about the move.
So he bounced! It is expected that he will land at Western Kentucky after re-entering the transfer portal.
The Bobcats are moving forward with de Laura, who has one year of eligibility left, over Finley, who led them to an 8-5 season and has two years of eligibility. That in itself is surprising.
Jayden de Laura will start at quarterback for Texas State.
Although de Laura has shown flashes of greatness, to bring him in over Finley was a shock. The timing makes the move even more bizarre.
As first reported by Nichaela Shaheen of the University Star (Texas State’s student newspaper), de Laura settled a civil lawsuit one day prior to his commitment. Literally 24 hours prior.
The civil lawsuit, which was filed on Dec. 2, 2021, stemmed from a 2018 sexual assault case.
Jayden de Laura and high school football teammate Kamo’i Latu pleaded guilty in juvenile court to second-degree sexual assault in October 2018. The plaintiff later filed a civil lawsuit against de Laura, Latu, their parents and the high school for negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, battery and assault.
An initial settlement was rejected by the judge in August 2023 on belief that the plaintiff should receive more financial compensation due to de Laura and Latu’s NIL opportunities while playing college football. According to a statement from the plaintiff’s attorney to The University Star, “the parties have reached an agreement to resolve the case in its entirety,” but “the terms of the settlement are confidential, and no information regarding the settlement will be provided.”
Further details about the incident and the lawsuit(s) can be found in Shaheen’s report. It’s rather graphic.
Texas State accepted de Laura’s commitment one day after the civil lawsuit was settled. If that timing isn’t odd enough, the move essentially squeezed Finley out after an eight-win season in favor of a quarterback who was benched at Arizona last season. Quite the gamble!