By Aidan Mastandrea
Sports Editor
It has been an eventful five years as a part of the College’s football team for Malin Jasinski. From starting out as a young freshman looking to be a quarterback to becoming a seasoned fifth year star receiver, Jasinski helped lead the program to its best season in over a decade.
He has been recognized as a 1st team all American by the American Football Coaches Association. He is the first Lion selected for first team honors since Shawn Brown in 2011. While the recognition shows his impact between the lines, Jasinski’s career at the College has been much more than that.
After the COVID-19 pandemic took away his freshman season, Jasinski began his career in 2022 on the defensive side of the ball. He played in six games and brought home NJAC defensive rookie of the week honors.
Jasinskis junior year at the College saw him step into many different roles on the team. He began to blossom as a receiver while also starting two games at quarterback. The former Seneca highschool quarterback came to the College with hopes of continuing to lead the offense, but ultimately became one of the best receivers the school has seen.
“With my knowledge of QB, it kind of gave me an advantage when it came to reading the defense and knowing where to go,” said Jasinski. “Sometimes I would put myself in the QB shoes and try to imagine where I would want my receiver on a certain play, and then I would just go there.”
The Lions and Jasinski took a leap in 2023. Finishing the season at 5-5, the College came up just short of an NJAC championship at the end of the year. As a team captain, Jasinski recorded 36 receptions for 362 yards and four touchdowns.
Throughout all of the position changes and challenges, Jasinski stuck with the College, wanting to bring success to the program.
“In a day and age where transferring is the answer to every obstacle, Malin stands as a shining beacon of what is possible when you focus where your feet are,” said Lions offensive coordinator Aaron Mershman.
With a possible fifth year available, Jasinski, along with his teammates and friends, Trevor Bopp and Thomas Burke decided to come back to the College in hopes of hoisting an NJAC championship trophy.
“I pushed myself harder this offseason than any other one, also because I knew how much the rest of the team cared, especially Bopp and Burke,” said Jasinski. “I knew that if all of us were coming back, it wasn't going to be for nothing. The three of us knew what had to be done in order to be better.”
Right from the start it was obvious how much work Jasinski put in during the offseason. He finished with a jaw-dropping statline of 13 receptions for 152 yards and two touchdowns in week one against Eastern University.
“He was obsessed with his weaknesses,” said Mershman. “When we got on him as a staff about getting off of press and his blocking he went out just quietly fixed it in the offseason.”
Statistics like week one’s became normal for Jasinski as the season progressed. He finished the season with 99 receptions for 1378 yards and eight touchdowns in just 10 games.
The Lions were unable to capture the NJAC crown, but finished over .500 for the first time since 2011.
First team All-American honors are rare and was ultimately something that Jasinski thought was attainable.
“My whole life I've looked up to kids that received this award but never thought I could come close to that,” said Jasinski. “All-American was the furthest thing on my mind this whole season, I honestly was so caught up within the grind of trying to win the NJAC it never hit me.”
The star receiver certainly will leave a major impact on the program after he graduates in May.
“I am certain that now as he leaves us for either a continued career in football or the world of finance whatever organization and community gets to be his next home, will immediately be made better by his presence there,” said Mershman.
Jasinski credits Bopp and Burke for being alongside him on the field and helping him put together his legendary season. He also feels that he would not have been able to accomplish what he did without assistant coach Joe Plaza training him over the summer.
“With everything with football, school, and even my personal journey, I've had a lot of curve balls thrown my way but I just kept my head down and grinding,” said Jasinski. “Through all the extra hours on the field, extra hours in the library, extra hours enjoying all the benefits of college, it was all worth it.”
