Jayden de Laura made it clear after Arizona beat UCLA Saturday night and the attention turned to Washington State, his former team.

“Just watch,” he said. “This game, it’s personal.”

Now Arizona’s leading man, de Laura transferred from Wazzu during the offseason. He started 15 games in total for the Cougars and won the Pac-12’s Offensive Freshman of the year. When his head coach was dismissed, along with several assistants, de Laura rallied the team and delivered an Apple Cup victory and a bowl berth.

Things ended with drama on the Palouse.

At halftime of the Sun Bowl game on Dec. 31, de Laura emerged from the locker room after halftime in street clothes. Coach Jake Dickert said an injury prevented him from playing the second half, but speculation ran wild that de Laura refused to go back out due to concerns about a patchwork offensive line’s ability to protect him.

Complicating matters, within an hour of the Sun Bowl ending, Incarnate Word transfer Cameron Ward (Washington State’s current quarterback) tweeted that he’d received a scholarship offer from the Cougars. And that led to a since-deleted social media post from de laura’s father saying “it’s gonna be interesting now.”

De Laura entered the transfer portal on Jan. 7. Three days later, Ward announced his commitment to Washington State. Hours after that, de Laura announced he was transferring to Arizona.

The third-year quarterback said on Tuesday he wanted a chance to face Washington State.

“This offseason, I was looking for the opportunity to play them again,” he said. “The opportunity presents itself this upcoming week.”

Asked about the halftime situation in the Sun Bowl, de Laura said he had an X-ray on his ankle at halftime. The decision to not play the second half was a joint decision by himself and the Washington State training staff.

And, of course, de Laura’s comments made their way to Pullman. Running back Nakia Watson was asked about de Laura on Tuesday and said they’re focused on the game, not any one player.

“People gonna talk,” Watson said. “We know what we have to do and we’re not gonna really feed into what one person says. We have a mission and that mission is being 1-0.”

Added Dickert: “We’re not playing one individual, we’re playing an Arizona team that is much improved.”

One year removed from a 1-11 campaign, Arizona is still in the hunt for a bowl bid after upsetting UCLA at the Rose Bowl over the weekend. But the Wildcats (4-6, 2-5 Pac-12) can’t take another loss.

“I would love to just say that it’s gonna be just another game for everybody. I would assume that it’s going to have some form of an impact on Jayden,” coach Jedd Fisch said Monday. “It’s Jayden’s job to make sure it doesn’t affect him and he doesn’t play the game any differently and that he goes out there and he executes in the manner that he executed last week. I believe he will.”

Kickoff at Arizona Stadium is set for 11 a.m. PT on the Pac-12 Network.