Jake Jarmolowich is the type of person who can fix anything. Have a tear in your sweatshirt? He can sew it back together. A year and a half ago, he bought a 1972 Honda CB 450 motorcycle and completely rebuilt it, despite knowing absolutely nothing about the mechanics of a motorcycle at the start. If there’s a problem to be solved, he’s the type who won’t stop until it’s settled.
He doesn’t watch a lot of sports in his free time — he hates sitting still, and will take on any project he can get his hands on. He restores and builds watches. Sometimes, while Harris-Lopez is playing video games in their room, he’ll look over and see Jarmolowich hunched over at his desk — wearing a headlamp and latex gloves — precisely constructing a timepiece. Jarmolowich has constructed custom stands for his game balls using his 3D printer, has painted shoes, and loves any chance to show off his natural creativity (a trait he attributes to his mother, Deana).
His appreciation for art extends into his love of music and cinema. He loves folk, indie, classic rock, 60s and 70s soul, and his go-to icebreaker is asking others their top three favorite movies (his? Of course, he can’t pick just three — it depends on the day — but a few particular favorites are The Princess Bride, The Prestige, Good Will Hunting and Life Is Beautiful).
To put it simply: Jarmolowich is unapologetically, unabashedly himself. He’s a free thinker, and marches to the beat of his own drum.
“I know I'm not perfect — I'm nowhere near it — but I'm not going to apologize for who I am,” he said. “I'm not ignorant or stubborn, but I'm gonna be who I am, and I will improve and progress, but I'm always willing to change and adapt.”
He’s a natural extrovert. His close friends note that he can sometimes lack a filter — or volume control (“Sometimes he’s a little too loud and needs to be told to quiet it down a little bit,” Petersen said). His sense of humor can be irreverent at times — his most-worn hat is embroidered with a screenshot from the credits of Curb Your Enthusiasm: “Executive Producer Larry David.”
His sense of style is as vibrant as his personality. He doesn't hesitate to take risks — if he likes something on the rack, he knows he can pull it off. Whether it’s his stack of anklets, his cowboy boots (which he simply describes with a chef’s kiss gesture), a versatile sweater or a flashy jacket, he uses fashion to express himself.
His most prized possessions all have names. There’s Bonnie, a stuffed rainbow unicorn, which he purchased at a gas station during a stop on a road trip to Bucknell his freshman year. There’s Violet — his purple road bike. (He’s brought both to his media day photo shoots over the last couple of years.)
When he was in the first grade, he insisted on being a Care Bear for Halloween — even as his classmates dressed up as cowboys or firefighters, he marched in the town parade as the blue Care Bear.
“One thing about Jarmo,” said his teammate and roommate, Jonathon Wood, “is that he's never going to change who he is as a person. He's so confident in himself, and he's never going to change for anybody.”
But as bold as he is, he cares — and loves — with an even greater level of gusto. He’s fiercely loyal to everyone around him, and is persistently positive toward his teammates. Early on in his football career, he even earned an award for being the most encouraging teammate.
“I care a lot about a lot of things, sometimes too much, but I think that my heart, partnered with my ability to reflect and grow every day, that's one of my biggest things,” Jarmolowich said. “I'm well in tune with how I feel about certain things, and so I can express things better than some people, or I can be there for people better than others.”
“He has the courage to feel his feelings,” Deana said.
