Jakeb Jon Wayne Sullivan (born July 1, 1994) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Berlin Thunder The Berlin Thunder were a professional American football team in NFL Europe. History The Thunder came into existence as an expansion team, after the London/England Monarchs franchise shut down operations, prior to the 1999 season. Home games f ...

in the

European League of Football The European League of Football (ELF) is a professional American football league. The league (as of the 2023 season) consists of 17 teams located in Germany, Poland, Spain, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Czech Republic and France, with p ...

. He played college football for the

South Dakota Mines Hardrockers The South Dakota Mines Hardrockers (also referred to as the South Dakota Tech Hardrockers, SDSMT Hardrockers, and SDSM&T Hardrockers) are the athletic teams that represent South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, located in Rapid City, South ...

, a Division II program in

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

Early life and college career

Sullivan attended

St. Thomas More High School The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Philadelphia is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. It covers the City and County of Philadelphia as well as ...

, where he played quarterback for the football team. He was team captain and team MVP, and was named to the All-State and Academic All-State teams. Sullivan joined the

program in

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

, where he became the starting quarterback. In his four years at SDSM&T he set 17 new school records, 2 All-RMCS best quarterback and Don Hansen All-American Team. With 325.1 yards per game, he led the entire NCAA Division II. In total he completed 293 passes for 3,576 yards, 32 passing touchdowns and 10 rushing touchdowns.

College statistics

Professional career

German Football League

In December 2018, Sullivan signed with the

Marburg Mercenaries The Marburg Mercenaries are an American football team from Marburg, Germany. Internationally, the club's greatest success came in 2005, when it won the EFAF Cup, followed by a losing appearance in the Eurobowl in 2007. Domestically, the team's ...

ahead of the

2019 German Football League The 2019 German Football League season is the 41st edition of the top-level American football competition in Germany. The regular season starts on 27 April and will be finished on 8 September 2019, followed by the play-offs. The season culminated ...

season. In his first year as an import player he reached several milestones. After nine victories out of 14 games his team qualified for the play-offs, where they lost in the quarterfinals against the

Dresden Monarchs The Dresden Monarchs are an American football team from Dresden, Germany. They have been a member of the first tier German Football League since 2002 and play in its Northern Division. They are the reigning champion after having won German Bowl X ...

. He was nominated in the GFL Allstar Team as the statistical passing leader of this season. He threw for 46 passing touchdowns and ran for 14 rushing touchdowns. In October 2019 he was signed by the

Vienna Vikings The Vienna Vikings is an American football club based in Vienna, Austria. Founded in 1983, the Vikings are known as one of Europe's most dominant clubs, having won the Eurobowl title five times (2004–2007 and 2013), as well being the runner ...

in the

Austrian Football League The Austrian Football League (AFL) is the highest level of American football in Austria founded in 1984. The Austrian Football League (AFL) has always been considered among the best and strongest leagues in Europe. The league plays by rules based ...

. He did not start due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

European League of Football

In the inaugural

2021 European League of Football season The 2021 ELF season is the inaugural season of the European League of Football, a newly formed professional American football league based in Europe. It started on June 19, 2021, and ended with a Championship Game in Düsseldorf's Merkur Spiel-Ar ...

Sullivan was signed by the

Frankfurt Galaxy Two American football franchises have been referred to as the Frankfurt Galaxy: * Frankfurt Galaxy (NFL Europe), active in NFL Europe between 1991 and 2007 * Frankfurt Galaxy (ELF), active in the European League of Football since 2021 {{Disa ...

and head coach Thomas Kösling. In the regular season Sullivan had the highest passing completion rate (66,2 %) of the league as well as 2,037 passing yards and 23 touchdowns. With a passer rating of 105.96 he was the second best quarterback in the regular season. In the Divisional Championship playoff-game against the Cologne Centurions he scored five passing touchdowns with four different target and was nominated MVP of this game. In the first ELF Championship game the Frankfurt Galaxy won against the

Hamburg Sea Devils Two American football franchises have been referred to as the Hamburg Sea Devils: * Hamburg Sea Devils (NFL Europe), active in NFL Europe between 2005 and 2007; * Hamburg Sea Devils (ELF) The Hamburg Sea Devils are an American football team in ...

with a dramatic 32:30 score. He was nominated ELF Championship game-MVP, voted to the ELF Allstar game and won the Offensive Player of the Year award. The Frankfurt Galaxy announced in mid November the extension for another season. Sullivan was released by the Galaxy on November 7, 2023. On December 14, 2023, Sullivan signed with the

of the

Professional statistics

Private life

Sullivan has four younger siblings and is

Native American Native Americans or Native American may refer to: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North and South America and their descendants * Native Americans in the United States * Indigenous peoples in Cana ...

, a member of the Cheyenne River Lakota Sioux. His father was football coach at St. Thomas More High School. He majored in

industrial engineering Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information an ...

and was nominated for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team.

References

External links

South Dakota Mines Hardrockers bio

ELF bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Jakeb 1994 births Living people American football quarterbacks Players of American football from South Dakota Frankfurt Galaxy (ELF) players German Football League players Sportspeople from Rapid City, South Dakota American expatriate players of American football American expatriate sportspeople in Germany South Dakota Mines Hardrockers football Austrian Football League players Native American players of American football