This lightning fast 6-foot-3 weapon ready to light up WA football in fall
Jeff Logan couldn’t help but laugh.
He was watching his star junior-to-be receiver, Jayce Halasz, play in an offseason 7-on-7 tournament. Halasz burned an opposing corner on a route, prompting a response from the defender, who was in disbelief.
“Holy (expletive), he’s a lot faster than I thought,” Logan overheard the defender say to a teammate.
Indeed, the 6-foot-3 receiver and defensive back is fast. That much was clear during his sophomore season, when he caught 64 passes for 1,019 yards and eight touchdowns for Graham-Kapowsin High School. In March, he ran a verified laser time of 4.5 seconds in a 40-yard dash at the Under Armour camp.
The top-end speed has become alluring to college coaches. Halasz has reeled in big-time offers left and right in recent months, including from Stanford, Alabama, USC, Utah, UW, Oregon and others.
“We know Jayce is fast,” Logan said at his desk in the Graham-Kapowsin High School weight room on Monday morning, sitting in front of a brightly-painted orange wall. “Every verified time he’s run says he’s fast, but you don’t necessarily know what that looks or feels like until you’re in it, in person, whether you’ve gotta guard it or whether you’re trying to run a route against that kind of closing speed.”
The biggest reasons for the recent influx of major offers for G-K’s budding star? Halasz has shot up two or three inches to 6-foot-3, but he hasn’t lost an ounce of explosiveness.
“Him growing to be 6-foot-3 and his ability to move still like he did when he was 6-foot or 6-1, and then really just accelerate and close the gap on people, whether it be running routes or driving different routes as a defensive back, it’s really what I think a lot of the colleges are taking notice of,” Logan said.
Halasz is considered a three-star recruit and the No. 9 recruit in the 2028 class by On3. He could wind up being a four-star before his high school career ends. The question now is where Halasz will play at the next level.
While he was considered a receiver prospect early in his career, he’s now classified as an “Athlete” by recruiting services, the tag for a player who has the potential to play any number of positions on either side of the ball at the next level.
“A lot of schools like him as a safety,” Rivals/On3 national recruiting analyst Brandon Huffman told The News Tribune in May. Schools think he can be an elite ‘center fielder’ because of those ball skills. I think he’s open to it.”
Halasz’s dad’s (Scott Halasz) side of the family is from Alabama, so Jayce has spent chunks of the past 15 summers in the South. He said he’s open to playing on either side of the ball at the next level.
“I’m a big believer in just playing wherever they need me,” Halasz said after a workout on Monday morning. “Trying to get the win wherever I’m most valuable at. Definitely, I’ve been playing receiver a lot growing up, but I love to hit, man. I love changing the atmosphere in the arena.”
That positional versatility and attractive skill set have taken Halasz to visits to places like Columbus, Ohio and Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
“It’s a blessing, to be honest,” he said. “Super surreal. … You do gotta pinch yourself.”
Halasz will once again team up with 2027 receiver Kase Betz, a Montana State commit, and 2028 quarterback AJ Tuivaiave (offers from UW, Miami, BYU and others) in the fall, all key pieces of what promises to be of the state’s most explosive offenses in the 2026 season.
Defensively, he’ll feature at corner for the Eagles. As for what position lies ahead at the next level, Logan isn’t certain.
“I think he’s just such a polished route runner,” said Logan, who was a former high school and college quarterback. “Maybe it’s the biased side of myself, being an offensive guy. … I completely understand from the flip side of that, you don’t see many corners that are 6-foot-3 that move like Jayce does.”
Halasz said he’s looking forward to the fall, especially with the skill position talent G-K returns.
“I think it’s easily the best 1-2 punch in the state,” Halasz said of playing alongside Betz. “You can’t get any better than that. We’re gonna take it over. We’re going deep.”
Expect some fireworks at Art Crate Field in Spanaway, starting in September.
“We’re gonna light up that scoreboard this season, for sure,” Halasz said.
