Gonzaga’s Jalen Warley embracing mentorship role with freshman Davis Fogle

Freshman Davis Fogle has been the biggest surprise of the season for Gonzaga. The 6'7 wing showcased his innate ability to score the basketball - and his confidence to attack defenders - right from the jump in the 2025-26 season.

High-scoring performances early in the year - including 18 against Southern Utah and 15 each against North Florida and Pepperdine - highlighted the freshman's ability to score in isolation during garbage time, but coach Mark Few was looking for him to grow within the scope of Gonzaga's offense and to improve on the defensive end of the floor.

Enter Jalen Warley, who has taken on a mentorship role for the freshman wing and helped him improve on both ends of the floor, turning him into a key rotation piece for the Zags who is now able to impact the game regardless of the score.

"He's always around the coaches or around older guys," Warley said of Fogle. "Just picking our brains and seeing where he can improve his game. He just has a real natural talent of scoring the ball, but what I'm seeing is his growth doing it in the flow of offense and the efficiency with his dribbles."

Fogle is averaging 7.9 points in 13.7 minutes per game across 22 appearances. Most of his playing time early in the year came in the second half of blowouts, but he has become an integral part of Gonzaga's rotation following the injury to forward Braden Huff. Fogle has played all nine games since Huff went down, and is averaging 10.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.1 steals in 21.8 minutes per game - while shooting 58.9% on two pointers and 26.7% (4-15) from three.

Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Davis Fogle. | Photo by Mercedes Smith

That included a 15-point, nine-rebound performance against San Francisco in January and 17 points, three steals, and three blocks last Tuesday against Washington State.

The biggest area of growth for Fogle from the start of the season until now has been on defense, where he's learned to use his length to be more disruptive in the passing lanes - thanks again to the mentorship of Warley.

"He's been learning at a really high rate just growing and getting better," Warley continued. "I just continue to preach his length. And I felt victim to it, too. Sometimes we don't understand how disruptive we can be or how long our arms can be. Like, when you stretch your arms out and you're really active, the offense a lot of times can't see the passes or the people that are open or the possible shot. So I think he's just continuing to learn, like, how elite he can be with his length on defense and then using that defense to generate offense."

Gonzaga Bulldogs Jalen Warley (8) and Davis Fogle (4). | Photo by Myk Crawford

Fogle has developed into one of Gonzaga's strongest defenders, using his long arms and quick reaction time to knock the ball loose on multiple occasions. He has a steal rate of 3.3% on the year, which is tied for third on the team behind Warley and Mario Saint-Supery, while his block rate of 3.7% is third behind Ismaila Diagne and Tyon Grant-Foster.

Fogle's biggest impact on this team will likely always be as an elite scorer, both in transition and in the half-court offense, but his growth defensively has been crucial for Gonzaga this season - and it's because of his willingness to listen to older players, and veteran leaders like Warley passing on what they know.

Warley will only play one year at Gonzaga, but his presence might be felt for years to come in Fogle's growth on the court.

Gonzaga’s Jalen Warley embracing mentorship role with freshman Davis Fogle

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