Concordia’s Jasken makes switch to defense
That’s just what the Moorhead High School graduate envisioned for his senior year of football at Concordia, right? Well, not exactly.
When Jasken came to Concordia, his senior dream season would have included him catching touchdown passes from the tight end position. He had no idea he would be a key cog in Concordia’s defensive unit.
"I would have probably figured they were talking about someone else," Jasken said.
Jasken has made the transition look easy. The 6-foot-3, 225-pounder is tied for second on the team in sacks and leads the squad in fumble recoveries as Concordia heads into Saturday’s homecoming game against Bethel.
It wasn’t until last season that Jasken entertained thoughts of moving to the defensive side. Mounting injuries on the defensive line and the solid play of tight end Nathan Merseth created a need for Jasken to help out on defense.
"It really excited me," Jasken said, "because I figured I would have more of a chance to play."
Jasken made his first defensive start against St. Thomas last year, the season’s fifth game. Concordia coach Jim Christopherson said the initial plan was to temporarily move Jasken to defensive end and still use him on offense in double tight end and goal line sets. It didn’t quite work out that way.
"He looked so good at defensive end, we couldn’t afford to move him back," Christopherson said.
And Jasken hasn’t looked back since the move. Despite not playing on defense full time since his freshman year in high school, Jasken looks like a natural, recording 13 tackles, two sacks, two fumble recoveries and one interception through four games.
"Surprisingly it’s gone pretty smoothly," Jasken said. "But I’m still picking up on things and learning from the other guys out here."
Jasken said he’s just as pleased with the defense’s success as he is with his own. The Cobbers lead the MIAC in total defense and scoring defense.
But success is something Jasken has enjoyed throughout his athletic career. At Moorhead High, Jasken was part of the Spuds’ basketball team that advanced to the Minnesota Class AA state tournament and Moorhead’s football team, which made it to the final four in the Class AA playoffs.
Jasken said the way he played basketball is reminiscent of the way he plays defensive end.
"Basically my job was to fly around and knock people over ... not on purpose," said a smiling Jasken. "I had my fair share of fouls when I played. (Fouling out) was a regular occurrence; I didn’t finish many games."
Although Jasken said he had fun playing basketball, he knew his hoops career was over when he finished high school.
"The whole 6-foot-2 center thing doesn’t do too well at any college," Jasken said.
Jasken would like nothing better than to experience the same level of success in his senior year of college as he did in his senior year of high school.
"It would be a blast to win an MIAC title," Jasken said. "We have three big games coming up – we’ll learn a lot about our team."