Farmington’s Gronewold wins 2025 CSM Football Player of the Year

Jack Gronewold used all the talent, strength and versatility that he could for Farmington football over the past few years.

He rarely came off the field and lined up at wide receiver, running back, safety or anywhere else the team needed him. And the results were there too.

During Gronewold’s four years with the Farmers, the team had 40 wins, its winningest four-year stretch in the program’s 100-year history. 

He helped lead Farmington to an 11-1 campaign in 2025, winning the Lincoln Land Large Conference with an undefeated conference record for the third straight year. advance to the Class 2A quarterfinals. That came after a junior season where he was a key factor on a Farmington team that went 12-1 and reached the Class 2A state semifinals. 

A North Dakota commit, Gronewold had a spectacular senior season on both sides of the ball, catching 49 passes for 945 yards and 14 touchdowns and rushing 66 times for 481 yards and 11 touchdowns. He even filled in at quarterback for two games, completing four passes for 80 yards and a touchdown. As a defensive back, he made 91 tackles with three tackles for loss and an interception. On special teams, he averaged over 35 yards per punt and was one of Farmington’s top kick returners, running one back for a touchdown. 

Gronewold caught 134 passes for 2,558 yards in his high school career to go with 47 touchdowns. He was a two-time IHSFCA all-state honoree, earning honorable mention honors as a junior before earning a spot on the all-state first team this past season. He was also a unanimous first team all-Lincoln Land Large skill position player and unanimous first team all-conference defensive back as well. 

For his efforts, Gronewold is Clutch Sports Media’s 2025 Football Player of the Year and was a first team CSM All-Area selection. 

Hear more from Gronewold about this past season and his career in our interview with him below. Some responses have been minimally edited for clarity. 

What have you been able to reflect on in the days since the season has ended? 

“It's been about a month now and there's been a lot of thinking. There's definitely some things I would go back and do differently or work harder in some situations, but there were no other guys that I would have wanted to be out there with. I had the best supporting cast with my mom, she's amazing, and just my family around me and all the coaches.”

What inspired your love for football?

“I played flag football back when I was super young, and my dad coached me. Then I was super small and my parents wouldn't let me play football, so I didn’t play for probably five years and then they let me play in eighth grade and I did pretty good. They still said I was really small and I was pretty good on the freshman team. I got right up to varsity for the playoffs, but I never touched the field because I was too small and I was there for experience. From there on, I just worked my butt off and put on some muscle and speed and it was gone from there.”

Where was your favorite place to play? 

“I always like playing at Elmwood, that's our biggest rival. It's always packed but I actually only got to play there once. When we played there, it was like a tornado or a hurricane the whole game, with 40 to 50 mile per hour wind. The atmosphere was crazy, it was amazing. That was one of my favorites and I’d have to say Macomb. Macomb always had a rowdy crowd and the year I went there, my sophomore year, was after a year we lost by 52 so it was kind of really a revenge year and we went out there and took care of it. Those are some of my favorite memories and then obviously this senior year, we were both 4-0 [when we played each other], I think it was just a big game, and the crowd was into it.”

“Those playoff games [at Farmington] were no joke. I mean, these stands were packed and people were all around the fences, it was just crazy. I would have never wanted to go anywhere else and play so I'm very thankful for our hometown. We have the whole town there every single game, we have the best fans.”

What’s a motto or mindset you take when you’re competing?

“It's really just trust in the work that I put in. I've worked for the past four years relentlessly and it's kind of all just getting confidence through all that work and trusting in yourself and then going out there and trusting everybody around you too. I love my supporting cast, all of the safeties that I went up with, the quarterbacks, everyone. So it's about trust to me.”

Aside from winning, what was your favorite memory of the season? 

“It would definitely have to be football camp before the season started back in the summer. I mean, we got to stay in the dorms and it was just super fun out with the whole team in there. It really created some good bonds with some of the underclassmen too. That's when we brought the whole family through and everybody mingled together and it was just super awesome. That was definitely one of my favorite memories.”

You’re playing in college for North Dakota next year, what stood out to you about them?

“It was definitely the facilities and coaches. I'm super big on having a family like my supporting cast here at Farmington and I loved how I was close with all my coaches and those coaches there make me feel like that. The facilities are just top-notch. It's as good as any school I've visited or been to so the choice was clear.”