Jackson Erdmann didn’t want to visit St. John’s.
The Rosemount High School senior was set on walking on to a major Division I university, and the Johnnies weren’t really on his radar. But his dad made him make the trip to Collegeville, just to see the place and meet the coaches.
“I just thought it’d be a good fit for him,” said Jackson’s father, Jeff.
Father knows best.
It wasn’t long into the visit he had no intention of taking that Erdmann’s outlook changed. The quarterback recently had broken his leg in a playoff loss to Lakeville North that ended his high school career and put him in a boot. That didn’t make getting around the Collegeville campus especially easy, particularly on a snowy day.
So the Johnnies’ coaching staff picked him up in a golf cart. Erdmann was instantly drawn to the personalities of assistant coaches Brandon Novak and Damien Dumonceaux.
“It was like, immediately, ‘I’ve got to come back here, I love these coaches,’” Erdmann said.
So he did. But, even after getting closer to the St. John’s coaching staff and falling further in love with the school, Erdmann didn’t pick the Johnnies. Penn State was too hard to pass up. Erdmann went to Happy Valley as a preferred walk-on.
“This was the only school I felt bad saying ‘No’ to,” Erdmann said. “Because the relationships I’d already built with them after a couple weeks, a couple visits, it was immediate.”
Midway through Erdmann’s first year at Penn State, the Nittany Lions changed their offensive coordinator and, with it, their system. Suddenly, the school was no longer a dream fit.
“We still just love Penn State to death,” Jeff Erdmann said. “It was a great experience for him.”
But it was time for a new one. Erdmann wanted to transfer, and where he would go from there was obvious — the school he was meant to attend.
Jackson Erdmann was made to be a Johnnie.
Now in his fourth and final playoff run as starting quarterback for No. 8-ranked St. John’s (11-1), the senior signal caller enters Saturday’s Division III quarterfinal playoff game on the road against No. 3 Wheaton, Ill., (12-0) knowing he landed in the right spot..
“Just through my four years, I knew I was absolutely meant to be here and this was the right place to be for me,” Erdmann said. “For me, where my life is now and where it was four years ago, it was the best decision of my life, coming here. I was just meant to be here.”
TAKING OFF
For the better part of his first two seasons at St. John’s, Erdmann primarily was asked to hand the ball off. But, before to the 2018 season, Kole Heckendorf was promoted to be St. John’s offensive coordinator, signaling a potential shift in philosophy.
The winds of change were prevalent prior to the Johnnies’ matchup against St. Thomas that fall.
Jeff Erdmann was on the phone with Jackson that week, and the excitement in his son’s voice was palpable. It was the most excited Jeff had ever heard his son, so he had to ask what was going on.
“Dad, we’re going after them. I may throw 60 times,” Jackson said. “We are not going to lose just by handing the ball off. We’re going after them.”
Erdmann threw 53 times for 470 yards and three touchdowns that afternoon, as St. John’s beat its rival 40-20, officially ushering in a new era of sorts for the St. John’s offense. Erdmann threw for 3,450 yards and 47 scores last season on his way to winning the 2018 Gagliardi Trophy awarded to the Division III college football player of the year.
Erdmann has only improved in his senior season, throwing for 4,291 yards and 41 touchdowns. He threw for 458 yards and five scores in the Johnnies’ second-round playoff victory over Chapman last week. For his career, Erdmann has 10,890 yards and 133 passing touchdowns, both MIAC records.
“We always talk about how great teams have to have a bell cow — he would be our bell cow,” St. John’s head coach Gary Fasching said. “We put a lot on him, and he has never flinched at all. He’s just gone about his business, and everything we’ve asked of him, he’s done, and he’s done it with such grace and style that it kind of befits what we’re looking for in a student-athlete here.”
Erdmann’s evolution at St. John’s has been obvious. Fasching noted the coaching staff used to refer to Erdmann as a baby giraffe when he would run, with his arms and legs flailing any which way. Now, running is a weapon for Erdmann.
Erdmann understands the game much better now. Rather than always going for deep shots, he’s willing to take underneath passes when that’s what’s open. His confidence and trust in his receivers and where he can put the ball have all skyrocketed.
That’s no surprise to Jeff, Rosemount’s head football coach, who saw his son practice for years and marveled at the consistency with his accuracy and approach.
“He’s so consistent with being able to make so many different throws,” Jeff said.
Tie that all together with his big statistical leap last season, and pro scouts were interested. Erdmann realized soon after last season that he may have an opportunity to play football past college. Scouts took measurements of him and watched him throw. They told him to take this season “professionally.” Erdmann has always done that, but took it to another level this year. He stayed at St. John’s over the summer for the first time to continue working on his craft. He entered this season in the best shape of his life.
He admitted the pro interest “definitely made me want to get my butt in gear, even more so.”
Erdmann plans to give pro football a real shot upon the conclusion of his senior season.
“Whether that’s trying to maybe hopefully get some looks at the NFL, or even CFL, I want to keep playing for a bit,” he said. “I’m excited. It’s definitely a new journey. It’s new territory for me. I haven’t really thought about that, because I’m all focused on the season, and people ask that all the time — with agents, training, what are you doing? It’s big decisions, but I’m not thinking about that yet. I’m focused on the season and just finishing off strong. But just feelings-wise, I’m excited to train and just have that mind-set and give it my all playing at the next level.”
‘ABOVE AND BEYOND’
Fasching often talks about the three things that are important to the St. John’s football program — and football is third.
The first two are academics and community. St. John’s wants its players to be set up for individual success, while also having a positive impact on others.
“That’s kind of the message we give everybody,” the coach said. “And some people go way up and beyond, like Jackson.”
The importance of giving back and helping others in need was instilled in Erdmann by his parents. He has been volunteering for years, doing events such as Feed My Starving Children and helping out in nursing homes. Rosemount’s football team helped with a breast cancer rally.
“This is what we do, what my family believes in,” Erdmann said. “Giving back, helping those in need.”
That message, Erdmann said, was only enhanced at St. John’s. The school offers countless opportunities to help others, and Erdmann seizes many of them, and more.
In the winter following his sophomore season, he went on a trip to Thailand, where he helped victims of child sex trafficking. That trip has stuck with him. Whenever his football career ends, Erdmann could see himself teaching English as a second language abroad in areas highly affected by sex trafficking so he could assist more victims.
He already teaches English as a second language in St. Joseph and works with Breaking Free, a Twin Cities organization that assists victims of sex trafficking. He also works as a math tutor, attends St. Jude rallies and has worked with The Dream Center, an organization in St. Cloud that houses and assists men to face their issues and integrate back into society.
One of the reasons Erdmann would love to play pro football is the platform it gives people to advocate for causes.
“I don’t want to say he’s exceeded our expectations, because we have great expectations of all of our guys,” Fasching said. “But … as I’ve gotten to know him more and understand what his personality is like, the things that he does off the field are more impressive to me than the things he does on the field.”
Erdmann said his team at St. John’s has strengthened his values and molded him into the man he is today.
“I think Jack has grown tremendously as just a human being with his experience at St. John’s,” Jeff said. “We’re real proud of the choices he’s making in his life.”
‘I’M PROUD TO BE A JOHNNIE’
Fasching identified Erdmann as a Johnnie when he first met the high schooler — someone with a team-first approach who does not demand the spotlight.
That has held true all these years later.
Erdmann is a superstar in Division III football, with his pristine performances and his fiery on-field persona. But off the field, he is a self-diagnosed “weird” guy who is laid back and relaxed.
And humble. Fasching said the quarterback just blends in and stands alongside his teammates, rather than stepping out into the solo limelight.
“He won the Gagliardi trophy last year, but he doesn’t really brag about his accomplishments,” said Johnnies senior offensive lineman Dan Greenheck, a Cretin-Derham Hall grad and three-time All-American in his own right. “He puts the team first and he just wants our team to be successful, whatever it takes.”
That’s what Johnnie football is all about to those involved in it. Fasching said every coach’s goal is to recruit young men who will grow into the standard of what you want your program to represent.
“I see that with Jackson,” he said.
Erdmann will graduate later this month with a degree in business and a minor in theology. But, for now, he and his teammates are savoring one last run at the coveted national championship that has eluded them.
Still, at some point, whether it be this weekend or later this month at the Stagg Bowl, Erdmann’s time at St. John’s will end.
His biggest takeaway from it all: “I would just say I’m proud to be a Johnnie,” Erdmann said. “It’s a lame answer, but I think it encompasses all of who I am.”
