Kylany a beacon of leadership and loyalty for Washington State Cougs

Devin Kylany has seen his uncle on the Jumbotron after the first quarter of every Washington State football game for years.

He’s in the “Back Home” video, lifting up former Cougar quarterback Drew Bledsoe after “The Snow Bowl,” WSU’s 42-23 win over Washington in the 1992 Apple Cup.

Kylany grew up a Coug fan — his loyalty cemented by his uncle Kevin Comeaux and aunt Ellen Comeaux, WSU alumni who wasted no time taking their nephew on frequent trips to the Palouse. When Kylany was 9, they stopped by Martin Stadium, now known as Gesa Field, on their way to a summer camping trip and sat at the 50-yard line.

So when the Cougars’ starting center lifted the Apple Cup trophy on Sept. 14 after WSU’s 24-19 victory over Washington at Lumen Field in Seattle, it meant a little bit more.

“The Apple Cup trophy went from the governor, to the coach to Devin,” Kevin Comeaux said.

Kylany, who grew up 38 miles north of Lumen Field in Lake Stevens, could hardly let the Apple Cup trophy go.

“We were all kind of crowding the stage at that time. And the boys were like, ‘Devin, get up there. Devin, get up there,’” Kylany said. “And I went up there, and I got my hands on the trophy, and I just screamed with happiness.”

The road that led Kylany to holding the Apple Cup trophy surrounded by friends, family, his teammates, coaches, staff and hundreds of Coug fans included a slew of injuries suffered in high school and college, multiple coaching changes, a pandemic, the introduction of name, image and likeness, the transfer portal, conference realignment and five years without playing a full football game.

Talk about adversity.

In his fifth year on the Palouse, Kylany is now WSU’s starting center and one of six team captains.

And it all started with wrestling.

Getting his start in a different sport

Kylany said wrestling is a part of his life that he does not talk about enough. It’s a sport that requires physical and mental strength and resilience.

“Brent Barnes and all my coaches I had wrestling did a wonderful job pushing the mental aspect of the game,” Kylany said. “Understanding that you’re so capable of things, you just have to keep on pushing and straining.”

Brent Barnes’ Lake Stevens High School wrestling program was about the most elite wrestling program in Washington. Barnes coached wrestling for 38 years, boasted a state champion for 22 straight years and coached Lake Stevens’ most famous alumnus, Hollywood actor Chris Pratt, who wrestled in high school and frequently gives back to the town. Pratt painted a mural in Lake Stevens’ old weight room.

Pratt is an actor known for his work on “Parks and Rec,” Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” and the baseball film “Moneyball,” in which he played Oakland A’s first baseman Scott Hatteberg, who is coincidentally a WSU alum.

Kylany never met Pratt, but he did hear the actor read his name during a virtual graduation ceremony in 2020.

Barnes said that Kylany and Pratt are similar people and easily sit on Lake Stevens’ “Mt. Rushmore of Athletes with personalities.”

“There’s some similarities there in just their personalities and their upbringing and just some things that they went through,” Barnes said. “They’ve both had these bigger-than-life personalities.”

Kylany said his dad did not want him to wrestle, but he decided to show up to practice after one of his football coaches encouraged him to in sixth grade.

With his dad out of the picture when he was about 12, Kylany lived with his mom, Monique, and four siblings: his older sister Sarah, older brothers Zack and Adam and younger brother Gabe. Zack studied engineering at WSU, and Gabe is attending WSU this year and works for the football team assisting the high school scouting department.

Barnes said that Kylany wrestled in the 285-pound weight class in high school and reveled in the opportunity to go into overtime in a wrestling match because of his unique physical and mental stamina.

“We (would) kind of laugh, and he (would) kind of get a smile on his face if he was going overtime, because he knew that he was probably going to win that match because he really embraced those moments,” Barnes said.

A history of injuries and bouncing back

In his junior year, he was one win away from a top-10 finish in State when he tore his ACL.

This injury derailed his senior football season, but by that point he had already chosen WSU.

“It was literally a dream come true that he picked Washington State University and now he’s just such a diehard like we are,” Ellen Comeaux said. “Watching him play football for a team we love and have someone that we love on the field is just, it’s beyond me. I mean, I cry a lot and it’s just super exciting.”

Ellen said she bought No. 70 Kylany jerseys for her family and the crew is always in the front row at the Cougar prowl when the team gets off the buses to walk into the stadium before home games.

Although Ellen and Kevin Comeaux have not met WSU coach Jake Dickert, they said the Cougar coach looks their way, sees their No. 70 crimson jerseys and smiles before every game after he gets off the bus.

The two did diehard Coug fans did meet the late Mike Leach on Kylany’s recruiting visit.

That means they had a front-row seat to perhaps the most natural Kylany-Leach interaction imaginable.

“I think I probably scared him away, because I was in his office, and I’m like, ‘Leach, dude, I’m gonna graduate early and I’m gonna be here for midnight maneuver’ (Leach’s intense midnight workouts). And he’s like, ‘Okay,’” Kylany said. “Of course, I had to ask him: ‘Leach, who killed JFK?’ and I got like, a 30-minute spiel from Leach, like, in his office and it was wonderful.”

Kylany’s first week at WSU in January 2020 was Leach’s last as head coach in Pullman. Kylany was an early enrollee, foregoing his final five months of high school to jumpstart his college football career.

With Leach off to Mississippi State, all Kylany could do was wait to see who his new coaches would be and lift a lot of weights.

“We had two strength coaches, so the only thing we had is planned lift,” Kylany said. “I was pretty focused, and the team was pretty focused at the time.”

Kylany said he chose not to leave during the two coaching transitions he experienced because he is a Coug at heart.

Kylany had a great relationship with former offensive line coach Mark Weber and learned as much as he could from his upperclass teammates such as Abraham Lucas and Liam Ryan.

“Mark Weber told me: ‘If you’re not happy with where you’re playing, watch the guy who is playing and do what he’s doing,’ and try and, like, not just do what he’s doing, but try and put your own touch on it. And, like, take it even a step further,” Kylany said. “Because if you’re doing that, you’re on the right path.”

When former WSU coach Nick Rolovich and Weber were fired for refusing to comply with the state of Washington’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate in October 2021, Kylany had a choice of whether to stay or leave.

In the wake of another coaching transition, Kylany talked to his aunt.

“I love the Cougs, and I love you. I would understand if you end up wanting to transfer so (you) could play,” Ellen Comeaux said she told Kylany. “And he looked at me like I was crazy. He’s like, ‘I’m a Coug.’

“... And I realized in that moment that he was as much in love with being a Coug as we are, and that’s was who he was. He wasn’t going to leave.”

Kylany’s early years at WSU were riddled with injury.

In a physical during his first year of college, the doctors discovered that his labrum was completely gone and his glenoids were broken.

“The shoulder socket (is) like a golf ball,” Kylany said. “And the glenoids (are like) the golf tee, and your labrum is like a seat belt keeping it in. So I destroyed the seat belt, and I was tearing away at the golf tee.”

Kylany began treatment for this right as the pandemic hit. When everyone else had left campus, he remained in a ghost town of early pandemic Pullman with Lucas and Ryan, who continued to train.

During winter workouts prior to the 2021 season, Kylany broke his Achilles running sprints. After a 10-month recovery that saw him miss the entire season, he blew up his wrist during a spring 2022 practice.

“It was just understanding that a little bit of pain is okay, and it’s just a sign that I’m alive,” Kylany said. “And here I am.”

Kylany spent the next two seasons playing special teams and earning his spot on the field.

In 2024, the Cougs returned four starters along the offensive line and Kylany was tabbed as the WSU’s starting center and voted by his peers as one of the Cougars’ six team captains.

Emerging as a leader

“He was voted as a captain. It was just his time coming,” WSU senior edge Nusi Malani said. “It was perfect timing for him to step into something that was already his. I mean that. He’s been grinding for that spot, he’s that leader in the O-line room, we’re all proud of him.”

As a center, Kylany is the quarterback of the offensive line. He diagnoses the defense’s plan and relays it to the line and to his quarterback.

“He’s the voice of the offense,” Dickert said. “Him and John. I don’t think there’s any doubt to that. I love his work ethic. He’s an example guy. He brings energy, just one of those guys that really loves playing ball, and that isn’t just Saturdays, that’s every day.”

Kylany said that offensive line coach Jared Kaster has been a huge asset for him because of his teaching style and his experience as an All-American center at Texas Tech.

Kaster said Kylany spends a lot of time in his office, absorbing knowledge and asking questions.

“The thing that you get with Devin is you get a coach out there on the field,” Kaster said. “He is the quarterback of that offensive line, and you get another coach that’s out there making sure everybody’s on the same page.”

That trust all started on a summer camping trip with his fellow O-linemen, Mateer and his aunt and uncle at their intentionally undisclosed dream camping spot along the Salmon River in Idaho.

WSU’s three offensive team captains are Mateer, Kylany and right tackle Fa’alili Fa’amoe, allowing their three personalities to complement each other in the huddle.

“I’ve always been really talkative and really outgoing, but I definitely have kind of molded into someone who understands the importance of checking in on everyone and being kind to everyone,” Kylany said. “When you can make someone’s day, it makes you feel so much better.”

Kylany’s personality has influenced his goals after football. Over the summer, he and Fa’amoe interned at the YMCA running day camps for children. Kylany said he wants to teach mathematics and coach youth sports after his playing days.

Ellen Comeaux said that after Kylany’s high school football games, a line of little kids would form to meet him.

“He always would stop when there was a kid, like, he’d see some kid just looking at him or whatever, and he always stops to pay attention to kids, talk to them, make them feel special,” Ellen Comeaux said.

Kylany has started six games for WSU and had a front-row seat to one of the most exhilarating first halves in years. He led the line that allowed Mateer to rush for 197 yards, a WSU QB record, versus Texas Tech on Sept. 7, lifted the Apple Cup trophy the next week, experienced a thrilling 54-52 double overtime win over San Jose State on Sept. 20 and has helped WSU begin the season with a 5-1 record, the best start since 2018.

“He’s savoring this experience,” Kevin Comeaux said. “He’s pretty much the last person off the field in every postgame situation. He’s usually the last guy to come out of the locker room post games. He’s taking his time and really reveling in his experience.”

After five years of obstacles and preparation, Devin Kylany is finally WSU’s starting center. It’s no surprise to his family, coaches and teammates who know him best.

“He will die and fall on that sword for this university,” Kaster said. “And that’s what you want at that position, and that’s what we get every Saturday.”

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.