Photo illustration by Ari Selvey Jakob Nachreiner was named the 2023 All-Journal Offensive Player of the Year on Thursday.

SPRINGFIELD — Though he plays what is often called the most important position in sports, Jakob Nachreiner doesn’t feel that way.

Nachreiner finished the season with 3,431 yards passing and 55 touchdowns on 64.4 percent completion percentage. His 55 touchdowns ties a state record for touchdown passes in a season, and his yardage is good for fourth in state history, according to the Minnesota Football Coaches Association.

Nachreiner was a 2023 All-District player, District Offensive Back of the Year, and by unanimous vote, has been selected as the All-Journal Offensive Football Player of the Year for the second straight season. Despite his personal accomplishments on the season playing quarterback for the Springfield Tigers, he gives the credit to his teammates.

“I believe I said it last year, but I see those as a team award,” Nachreiner said. “I don’t think I could do anything I did this entire year without everyone contributing. It’s definitely a team award.”

Two of those teammates — wideouts Carter Olson and Brayden Sturm — join Nachreiner on the All-Journal Offensive Football Team after helping Nachreiner dominate opposing defenses all season. Nachreiner said that the chemistry he built with Olson, Sturm, and the rest of the Tiger offense really helped him achieve the numbers he put up.

“The connection starts in practice,” Nachreiner said. “Over the summer throwing together, and then obviously in practice every day. Just building that connection, feeling how they want to run their routes and everything. You just build that chemistry throughout that year, and then I think it just got better every game.”

Olson in particular put up excellent numbers in his four years with the team, finishing first all time in career receptions (278) second in yardage (3,790) and fourth in touchdowns (45) in Minnesota state prep football. Nachreiner said that Olson was an valuable teammate to work with during his time at Springfield.

“He’s been incredible to work with,” Nachreiner said. “He likes to run his routes like Travis Kelce. You see that all the time on Sundays. He runs the routes where he believes he is open, and it takes a long time to build that chemistry with him. But once you get it, it’s a very good connection.”

Nachreiner led the Tigers to their second straight Class A State Football Championship appearance, falling one win short of the title after a loss to nine-time state champion Minneota. On his way there, Nachreiner threw for 185 yards and three touchdowns in the Section 3A finals as the Tigers took down Sleepy Eye United 36-16 to move on to the state tournament. Nachreiner said the game was one of his favorites during the season.

“The Sleepy Eye game in the section championship was one of my favorite games of my career,” Nachreiner said. “It was kind of like our Tracy-Milroy-Balaton game last year, where we lost in the regular season and we were able to bounce back. Just having everyone on our team going for the goal of, ‘We have something to prove.’ We went out there and executed. Then throughout the state tournament, it was really nice to see all the guys execute at a high level every single play and improve on what we did in the regular season.”

Nachreiner finishes his time at Springfield with 6,550 yards passing and 95 touchdowns.

Nachreiner is the latest of three accomplished Springfield signal callers to win the All-Journal Offensive Player of the Year over the past five years, With Decker Scheffler winning the award in 2019 and Brendon Buerkle winning in 2021. Nachreiner surpassed both players in terms of career statistics, along with most quarterbacks in state history.

Nachreiner finishes fifth in Minnesota prep football state history in career passing touchdowns (95), 14th in passing yards (6,586) and tied for 17th in completions (427). Nachreiner, however, looks forward to the day when his career accomplishments will be overshadowed by a newcomer to Springfield’s program.

“I think I gave future quarterbacks something to look up to,” Nachreiner said. “A lot of the guys that are going to be developing, looking at the three quarterbacks we’ve had in a row with Scheffler, Buerkle, and then me, there’s definitely a big gap to fill there. They definitely have something to look up to, and they have some numbers to look at.

“I want someone to go out there and I want them to beat my record. I want this program to continue to succeed in every way possible. I want them to improve on what we have done and go out there and win a state championship.”

Nachreiner has committed to play baseball at the next level at Ellsworth Community College, and is unsure if he will be playing football in the future. With that in mind, Nachreiner said that playing football has taught him some patience over the course of his career.

“It’s taught me that chemistry does not come in one day or one month or even one year,” he said. “It takes time to build chemistry with the people you’re around. It takes time to be successful with the people you’re around and know the strengths of everybody and be successful that way.”

Nachreiner said the best piece of advice he’s ever gotten when it comes to football is to be confident in his abilities.

“The game is a lot slower than it feels,” he said. “And once you’re confident, it really slows down mentally.”

Nachreiner gives some additional advice to players looking up to his career accomplishments.

“Take what the game gives you,” he said. “It’s really fun to throw those long touchdowns, but sometimes they’re just not there and you have to take what you’re given. Then that opens up the deep shots. It’s very tempting to throw the deep ball, and I learned that early my junior year and even this year, it’s fun to throw up those prayers, but they’re not always going to get answered. You have to take what some people would call the boring plays, the short plays, the 3-, 4-yard gains, and that opens up everything else.”

If that advice worked for Nachreiner, perhaps some day another quarterback will take those words to heart and surpass Nachreiner in the record books.

Until then, Nachreiner will stand as one of the most accomplished passers in state history.