File photo by Travis Rosenau Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Cole Jacobson, left, looks to go up for a shot while guarded by Madelia’s Kaydon Firchau during GFW’s first boys basketball game at the new school in Gibbon on Feb. 20. Jacobson was unanimously chosen as the 2025-2026 All-Journal Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

GIBBON — Years before he was setting school records at Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop High School, Cole Jacobson was a whole different basketball player.

Skill-wise and comfortability-wise.

But the growth he’s had from his freshman year — and not just in height — has helped him take his game to a new level.

Jacobson’s GFW career has been memorable, starting as a 6-foot-2 freshman focused on shooting 3s and finishing his senior year as a 6-foot-7 shot creator and all-around player.

This season, he hit numerous milestones on the way to capping off one of the greatest all-around boys basketball careers in GFW history. During his senior campaign, Jacobson scored a single-game school record 48 points against Cedar Mountain, set the all-time GFW boys scoring record, passing Seth Schuette, and then became the only boys player in school history to eclipse 2,000 career points.

Now finishing his career with 2,102 points, Jacobson cements himself atop the record books. He was also unanimously chosen as the 2025-26 All-Journal Boys Basketball Player of the Year, as voted on by The Journal’s sports staff.

“It’s a really big achievement,” Jacobson said. “I was really excited when my dad told me [about the award]. I always thank all my guys that come in and show up every day for me. They don’t complain about me shooting a bunch of shots … everyone knows their role and they do it really well, and I just thank them for putting in the work every day to have a good season like we did. We went on a good run, lost some games that maybe we shouldn’t have, but at the end of the day, we played really good as a team this season.”

From his freshman season, Jacobson has been able to put points on the board.

But how different is the freshman version of Jacobson from the senior?

“I would say they’re completely different players,” Jacobson said. “When I was a freshman, I would catch and shoot 3s from the guys that are juniors and seniors like Dom Rose and all them getting rebounds, kicking out, open shots, but now it’s like I have to go and create my own shot because teams like to double-team me, box-and-one, and it’s hard to get up a clean-look shot.”

Jacobson said he never really had an attack-the-hoop mindset as a freshman either, something he was far from afraid to do this season.

Jacobson has been a contributor at GFW since getting varsity time as a freshman, but it wasn’t until just before his senior year that he really felt and saw an improvement in his game, crediting Springfield High School’s all-time leading scorer and current BeGreat Sports trainer Isaac Fink as a big help.

“Specifically towards the end of [summer] and during the football season … I did a bunch of workouts with Isaac Fink,” Jacobson said. “He helped me turn my game into just a complete new level that I never even knew I could be that good, which really helped set me up for success in my senior year.”

This season, Jacobson averaged 29.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.3 steals per game as the Firebirds finished 16-12 overall and 10-6 in the Tomahawk, tied for third. In addition to being the boys all-time leading scorer at GFW, he also finished with the single-season school record in points (756), was second in career rebounds (684), sixth in assists (286) and fourth in steals (226).

“All the records are great, fun to have,” Jacobson said. “People say, ‘Oh, you scored all this,’ but at the end of the day, I want to win the game. I don’t care how many points I score, I just want to win the game and that’s why I go out and mentally, ‘Win games, win games, win games.'”

With his dad, Ryan, being the GFW boys basketball head coach, Jacobson said he watched his dad coach varsity for years, but finally being coached by him was a new experience that made him a better player.

“Seventh, eighth grade I would sit in and watch practice and watch all those guys and I’m watching my dad coach, and it’s different when you’re watching him coach versus getting coached by him,” Jacobson said. “It’s a different feel when he coaches me. Not a lot of people think about it, but it’s like he’s a lot harder on his own kid, that goes for every coach, too.

“All the coaches are a lot harder on their own kids, because they know what you’re capable of and they know how to push you to become the best player, and I’m thankful that he was my coach. He’s pushed me past my limits, especially this year, and that’s helped me become a better player, for sure.”

Jacobson has had many milestones and memories throughout his career, but his senior season brought a unique experience as he got to be a part of the last varsity boys basketball game played at the old high school gym in Winthrop. With that came being a part of the first boys basketball game at the new high school gym in Gibbon against Madelia.

“One week we were playing in the old gym and I’m playing in my last game [there] and I’m thinking, ‘Wow, I’m never gonna play in this gym again,'” Jacobson said. “And then I get to the new school and it’s incredible. Then you get done with the game [in Gibbon] and it’s like, ‘I’m not gonna play in this gym anymore either, [laughs]’. But it all happened so fast. Once we got in there, we just really took it all in when you got there. I was super thankful we got a home playoff game so we could have two games in there.”

Jacobson started his prep career as a Thunderbird and finished as a Firebird, but his basketball career will continue at the collegiate level as he will play at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, next winter.

“Their offense is really good and they’ve got a lot of good players that can fit in my role,” Jacobson said. “I just really think that that’ll be another home for me. I really like the coaching staff and the facilities are great.”