Jayden de Laura, Jedd Fisch address sexual assault allegations against quarterback

For the first time since he and a former teammate agreed to settle a sexual assault lawsuit in May, Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura has addressed the allegations.

The alleged incident took place in October 2018 and involved de Laura and Wisconsin defensive back Kamo’i Latu.

“I kind of wrote out something, kind of been really thinking about this since everything came out, so… I want to start off by saying I understand the importance of the questions that have been asked over these times as well as the fact that as journalists and everything, everybody has a job to do,” de Laura said. “But just believe me that there’s nothing I would like to do but clear my name if I could, 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. I just do not intend to break the law.

“What I can say today is that I’m grateful for the University of Arizona for assessing the facts in this matter and allowing me to continue my education as a student-athlete. I would also like to thank Thomas Otake and Philip Miyoshi for correcting the misinformation that’s been reported that stated that I pled guilty or was convicted of sexual assault, which is what was written. It’s a privilege to be a quarterback at the University of Arizona. I want to ensure the Wildcat community that I’ll continue to be responsible and respectful leader on the field, in the classroom, and in life. With that being said, I kind of would like to turn our focus to football now.”

The alleged incident took place in October 2018 when de Laura and Latu were football players at St. Louis High School in their native Hawaii. A woman said they raped her after the Interscholastic League of Hawaii (ILH) championship game in October 2018. The victim — now 20 years old — was 16 at the time and both boys were underage, as well, according to a report from HawaiiNewsNow.

Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch was also asked about the allegations at Media Day and addressed them for the first time.

“I can certainly address what I’m allowed to address when it comes to this,” Fisch said. “Legally, there’s not much that I can say, but I can tell you that the university, our football program and I, were all made aware of a juvenile and civil action that was brought against Jayden September of last season. We were not able to get much information. We did as much due diligence as humanly possible.

“What we learned was that Jayden never pled guilty, was never found guilty of any crimes. Really for us, that’s what we could live off of. That’s what we could understand. We can’t make decisions, it would be unfair to make decisions, based upon information we don’t have.

“There is no information. There won’t be any information that is available under Hawaii law. Everything is sealed and expunged, so there really is nothing for us to learn. What we can ask for is for Jayden every day to be the best possible leader he can be for us.

“Our culture is very important, as I mentioned. All we can do is listen to the people that knew him the best, that knew the most amount of information. When he and I and his family all found out about this lawsuit in September, our university acted as quick as possible.”

de Laura is second season at Arizona after transferring from Washington State. Last year, he threw for a career-high 3,685 yards and 25 touchdowns in his first season with the Wildcats.