Jaylen Wells: Division-II Star to D-I Transfer

By: Hayden Wysup 
 
Jaylen Wells, one of the Cougs’ newest transfers, is a junior entering his first year here at Washington State, however his path here isn’t like most.   
 
Jaylen played high school basketball at Folsom High School in Sacramento, California. However, Jaylen didn’t make his school’s varsity roster until his junior year.  Jaylen described his early time in high school basketball as, “freshman year I was 5’8, all I did was shoot and stand in the corner.  I was on the JV team and was probably the 15th man.  Then my sophomore year I still didn’t start on JV.”  Jaylen wouldn’t start his first high school varsity game until his junior year.  When COVID hit at the end of Jaylen’s junior year, he continued to work hard and better his game. 
 
“I probably worked the hardest I ever did,” Jaylen reflected. “I think some people might’ve gotten a little lazy, got a little down with circumstances of COVID. I never grew as a player as much as I did in that two years.  I went from averaging seven or eight points to averaging 28.”   
 
All that work Jaylen put in paid off as he was awarded the 2021 Sierra Foothills League MVP, won the 2021 Sac Bee All-Metro Player of the Year, won the 2021 Folsom High School Athlete of the Year, and was named second team all-state. 

Despite all the work Jaylen put in and the success he saw his senior year, this didn’t translate to the high-major recruiting attention Jaylen could’ve hoped for.  Jaylen played for Sonoma State, a Division-II school in California.  

In his first year at Sonoma State, Jaylen posted 12.6 points on 40.6% from the field and 26.3% from three.  His freshman year served as learning experience for Jaylen. 

 

“My freshman year was definitely a testing year, the coach at Sonoma gave me a huge role as a freshman.  That was big in my development, so I thank him and the whole program for that.  I was just able to get experience, figure out things that work going from high school to college and some things that work in high school that don’t in college.”  

 

Early on in his time at Sonoma State Jaylen picked up the hard work and sense of proving yourself that is present in a D-II program. “There’s a lot of hungry people, even though we don’t have the same amount of resources, same number of opportunities as D-I. Obviously being able to go from Sonoma to…