RAPID CITY - St. Thomas More football and basketball standout Nathan Jacobson has signed a letter of intent to play hoops for the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology beginning next season.

"I'm really looking forward to being a part of this program," Jacobson said. "I'll have a chance to compete for a spot and play in front of my friends and family in Rapid City."

Jacobson started in three South Dakota state football championships at quarterback for the Cavaliers and won two state basketball titles as a point guard. He and Mines head coach Jason Henry feel that experience will be invaluable.

"To have an athlete like Nate, and more importantly a person and student like Nate, coming to school here is really exciting for us," Henry said.

"He's a leader and a winner. Being in that many state championship games proves that I think, but he's really a top-notch kid, too, and that's the type of player we want in our program. It's not just all the awards and accolades he received in high school. He's going to do super things off the floor for us as well."

Jacobson brings an impressive resume to Mines. During his senior season in basketball alone he earned Class A All-State first team honors, all-state academic honors, BHC All-Conference honors, is a Mr. Basketball nominee and also won the Hanson Classic Sportsmanship Award. Jacobson holds four basketball records at St. Thomas More, including most assists in a season, most assists in a career, most steals in a season and most steals in a career. He was a team captain this past year for the Cavaliers and was voted their 2008 most valuable player. Jacobson had an overall win-loss record of 47-4 in his two years as a starter for the Cavaliers.

Jacobson is also a three-time all conference selection in football, and earned team MVP honors as well. On top of that, Jacobson holds the state record for touchdown passes thrown during a season (32) and career touchdown passes thrown (79). As a starting quarterback he had an overall win-loss record of 30-3.

Academically, Jacobson holds a 3.89 GPA, is a member of the National Honor Society, won the 2007 Clark Coberly Award - given to an athlete in three sports who has a 3.5 GPA - won the 2007 Cavalier Academic Award and was named academic all-conference and academic all-state in three sports.

"That's one of the many things about Nate that we liked," Henry said. "Sometimes there are good area players that we'd like to get, but we just can't get them in with our academic standards. That wasn't a problem at all with Nate."

Jacobson, the son of Scott and Nancy Jacobson of Rapid City, is undecided about what he plans to major in, but he said academics played a big part in his decision.

Neither Jacobson nor Henry completely ruled out the chance that Jacobson could suit up for the Mines football team some day, but it sounds like Jacobson has more than likely played his last football game.

"That's an awfully tough thing to do with the way the seasons overlap," Henry said.

"I don't know if you can ever say never," Jacobson said. "But I'm here to play basketball."