Three years ago, Landon Jacobson was a speedy but undersized freshman making his debut with the Grand Meadow football team.

Even then, Jacobson was thinking big, but it’s hard to imagine he was thinking this big.

Jacobson helped lead the Superlarks to the team’s first nine-man state football title last fall, and then he did something nobody in Grand Meadow had done in at least 30 years: He bench pressed 360 pounds.

Jacobson’s name now sits atop the list of all of the bench pressers in GM and it’s something he doesn’t take lightly.

“Since I got here as a freshman I’ve been staring at the chart and I wanted to beat that record,” Jacobson said. “When I actually beat it, I got there sooner than I thought I would. It was exciting. Every year I’ve gotten somewhat bigger and stronger. I feel like I can handle more responsibilities on the field.”

Jacobson, who will be a senior this fall, has made a habit out of lifting at least four days per week and it has helped him immensely on the field. It gives him more of a burst when he carries the ball as a running back, and it gives him plenty of pop when he is playing linebacker and looking for running backs to bring down.

Jacobson’s talent and attitude have mixed together to make him a force on both sides of the ball.

“It’s helped him an awful lot,” GM head football coach Gary Sloan said. “It’s unusual when you get someone that has his ability and also has his work ethic. Landon is an extremely hard worker. There are times when I have to chase him out of the weight room or I’ll find him in there in times when he’s not supposed to be.”

Jacobson racked up 2,172 yards of offense and 30 touchdowns last fall, and he added 163 tackles and seven sacks on defense. Despite having such individual and team success, Jacobson didn’t exactly rest this past offseason.

He kept his workout schedule the same and focused on getting even better for next season.

“If you want to get better, [the weight room] is where you get better,” Jacobson said. “We were excited to get that far last year and we’re only losing two seniors. We hope to repeat again this year. There was no offseason; we were working hard for this coming season.”

Jacobson has drawn interest from a lot of Division III schools, a couple of Division II schools and he’s also had looks from Division I North Dakota State University and South Dakota State University.

He’s going to go wherever the most interest is, and he wants to play at the highest level possible.

Before Jacobson focuses on his future with football, he is thinking about the present. The Superlarks have played in the last two state championship games, and they’re hoping to get there again this fall.

Sloan said he’s not letting his team feel a sense of entitlement after last season’s success.

“Last year is over,” Sloan said. “Last year was fun and we accomplished something we’d never done before. But winning a championship doesn’t help us at all this year. It hurts us. We don’t get to start with a 20-point lead every game and everybody else is going to be that much more fired up to play us. We have to be ready for that.”

How far the Superlarks go this year will certainly on depend on what Jacobson gives them. But he’s not the only player GM will need to make plays.

The Larks bring back a talented lineup and they graduated just two starters from last year’s squad.

“We do expect a lot from Landon, but we expect a lot from everybody else too,” Sloan said. “One thing we’ve tried to pride ourselves on the last couple of years is that we’re a team. Landon’s a very good player, but he’s not going to be our only option.”