Jesse Wade is transferring to BYU

Jesse Wade is heading home, as the Kaysville, Utah native announced today on his Twitter page that he is transferring to rival BYU. Per the NCAA’s transfer rules, he will sit out the 2018-19 campaign and then have three more years of eligibility left.

Wade announced on June 1 that he was leaving Gonzaga following a freshman campaign that saw him appear in 19 games and score 26 total points on 31% shooting from the field in 5.2mpg. He had reportedly whittled down his list of potential landing spots to BYU, Weber State, and Utah State before committing to Dave Rose’s program.

It’s not often that you see an athlete transferring within the same conference, let alone to a direct rival of his former school, but Mark Few granted Wade an unconditional release which allowed him to go to any school he wished and opened the door for him to land in Provo with the Cougars. Per the Salt Lake Tribune, Wade toured BYU’s facilities with his wife at the end of June (there’s also some interesting comments in the linked article from Dave Rose regarding his thoughts on Eric Mika and Elijah Bryant’s early departures which I won’t get into here).

The Cougars, who reportedly never made an offer to Wade (according to verbalcommits.com) while he starred at Davis High in Kaysville, didn’t miss out this time around. Due to the NCAA’s transfer rules and his two-year LDS mission, Wade will be 22 years old by the time he makes another competitive appearance in an NCAA game, and will have missed three years of action in a four year span.

A shoulder injury suffered early in the 2017-18 season, playing catch up following his mission, and Gonzaga’s stacked roster now and into the future all played a part in Wade failing to see much game time in his lone season in Spokane and ultimately his transfer. Wade, however, always comported himself well and appeared to be a great teammate and valued member of the Gonzaga community. We wish him the best of luck at BYU, except for when he’s playing the Zags.