It was a lakeside fire pit chat Jalyn Gramstad won’t soon forget.

Gramstad, the 2023 NAIA Player of the Year at Northwestern College and Nebraska's newest quarterback, was in Minnesota earlier this month vacationing with his family. About every two years, the Gramstads get together — a whole bunch of them, too, including grandparents, grandkids, brothers, sisters, cousins — to relax and catch up while having some fun near water.

On the last night of the vacation, Gramstad found himself with his cousins and grandpa around the fire pit. Among the many topics discussed? Chasing dreams.

There’s much respect between Gramstad and his grandfather, a former farmer and carpenter who has his own business in Gramstad's hometown of Lester, Iowa, called Dutchland Foods, which produces high-quality pastries.

So when grandpa talks, Jalyn listens.

“He was walking us through everything he’s done in his life, and he just told us that sometimes you have to take risks in life, and some of the things he did in his life he’d be called crazy for,” Gramstad told Inside Nebraska. “That’s what it’s about. You take risks, you go out to the unknown, but you don’t stay comfortable.”

The message was taken to heart.

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