Texas State Loses 2 Quality QBs In 8 Days

In this era of college football, nothing is certain. 

Just look at Texas State.

G.J. Kinne and the Bobcats landed a solid transfer in QB Jayden de Laura, who started 12 games for Arizona in 2022 before getting hurt shortly into the 2023 season.

Noah Fifita stepped into the starting spot after that injury and went on to earn Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year honors, which led to de Laura hitting the portal. He committed to Texas State on Jan. 15. 

And just nine days later, de Laura has withdrawn from Texas State and won’t be part of the Bobcats’ program. 

The reason was because of backlash — primarily from students and the student newspaper — about de Laura recently settling a civil lawsuit stemming from a 2018 second-degree sexual assault case when he was a minor.

Now, the Bobcats have to be feeling a little lost.

It was very surprising to see de Laura commit to Texas State in the first place. The Bobcats did, in fact, have TJ Finley returning. Finley led them to the top-scoring offense in the Sun Belt last season. His 264.5 passing yards ranked fourth and he tossed 24 TDs to just eight interceptions and added five more scores on the ground. It seemed like the Bobcats had a good thing going with Finley under center and the ceiling was high heading into next season. 

I guess that wasn’t the case.

Instead of competing for the starting job in San Marcos, Finley decided to test his chances elsewhere. He entered the transfer portal the day after de Laura committed and landed at Western Kentucky less than a week later. 

However, it’s likely that Finley will still need to battle for the starting spot with the Hilltoppers. 

Replacing Austin Reed won’t be easy and even accomplishing what his predecessor Bailey Zappe accomplished will be a tall task. The WKU faithful expected Caden Veltkamp to be the next guy up to try and continue that strong QB play WKU has had under head coach Tyson Helton. 

But again, nothing is certain.

It’s very likely that Finley earns this starting spot based on his experience and what he accomplished last season while helping turn the Bobcats program around en route to an 8-5 record. If he does, he’ll have a decent array of weapons and a deep backfield, especially with WKU’s addition of former Bowling Green RB Ta’ron Keith out of the portal. 

I also expect Finley will have a chip on his shoulder and, after earning the starting spot, will keep the Hilltoppers as a CUSA contender. Honestly, Finley should step in as one of the top QBs in the conference.

It’ll be interesting to see what’s next for Texas State, and I imagine they’ll land another QB in the portal. It still has Malik Hornsby, who has transitioned into somewhat of a wildcat role aside from being a backup QB. 

One thing’s for sure though, Kinne lost two solid QBs in a week. Players are consistently told nowadays that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. 

Coaches are finding out the same thing with transfers replacing reliable guys in the program and are realizing not to take good things — and good players — for granted.