Low key and understated, but also confident and unflappable. That’s Gideon Stark, QB1 for the Concordia University, Nebraska Football program. He’s got a sense of humor too. When informing Head Coach Patrick Daberkow that he would return for his final season of eligibility in 2026, Stark told Daberkow that he couldn’t leave now that he had finally arranged the TVs in his house just how he wanted them for watching NFL games on Sundays.
Jokes aside, Stark has many much more compelling reasons for returning to the football program this coming fall. For the record, Stark could easily throw a football from his house (shared with two teammates) onto the front lawn owned by his head coach. That’s college football in a small town for you, and Stark just wasn’t ready to give it up.
“Coach Dabs called me into his office and told me he wanted me to come back,” Stark recalls. “I wasn’t really on board yet with it at the time. I told him I wanted to push it off until after the season to truly know. I wanted to focus on the season we had in front of us. After the Northwestern game, I took Thanksgiving break to talk to my parents. I realized I still wanted to play and wanted to compete. I really didn’t know if I wanted to grow up yet. I really wanted to play a kid’s game for another year and have fun with my brothers out on the field.”
No one familiar with Stark’s upbringing is surprised that he’s now the quarterback for the Concordia Bulldogs. Bulldog Blue courses through the veins of Gideon and his family. His grandparents on both sides attended Concordia and so too did his parents Paul and Kim and older sisters Kara and Shelby, as well as aunts and uncles. It’s Gideon’s turn to wear the colors. As a senior academically in 2025, Gideon became the starting quarterback and threw for 21 touchdowns (and rushed for three) and 2,339 yards.
Daberkow and his staff, including quarterbacks coach Greg Nelson, knew what they had waiting in the wings when DJ McGarvie completed his four-year run as the starter. Stark admits that it wasn’t easy watching from the sidelines on game days. Stark threw only a combined 30 passes over the 2023 and 2024 seasons. He felt confident his time was coming. Daberkow took note of how Stark handled the situation.
Says the head coach of Stark, “He’s super loyal. He sat behind DJ for three years and never wavered. He never threatened to transfer – nothing like that. You hear all these stories about other quarterback rooms … Gideon is extremely confident, has a very strong arm and has the respect of his teammates. That’s what you want in a quarterback. He’s not very flappable. You can’t really get to him. He’s an even-keeled leader, which is what you want. He’s been great. I’ve been very impressed.”
Gideon grew up around football, often tagging along to practice with his father Paul, a high school football coach. The Houston area served as the backdrop for Gideon’s upbringing, with the exception of a few years spent living in Illinois. From a young age, Gideon started spiraling footballs. Naturally, he wanted to play quarterback. Gideon prepped at Concordia Lutheran High School and led the Crusaders to two state playoff appearances in football-crazed Texas. He was also a member of the National Honor Society and was named the school’s chemistry student of the year.
It was actually late in the game when Stark decided he wanted to pursue college football. He says he had interest from other GPAC schools and from NCAA Division III institutions in Texas. With his sisters having already played volleyball at Concordia, Gideon could feel the family connections pulling on him. Says Gideon, “I started talking to Coach Daberkow and there became a realization that I wanted to continue to play football and that Bulldog Nation was where I wanted to come and play.”
Gideon enrolled for the fall semester of 2022 with his sister Shelby then a junior. Shelby helped Gideon get acclimated to the campus. To be sure, the transition was quite smooth. Gideon already knew all about the culture and the Christian environment. Says Gideon, “My grandfather played football here, my dad played and two of my uncles did too. They just loved it. They all became football coaches and have a big passion for the game. I just kind of grew up around football and knew it was something I wanted to play and see how long I could play for.”
Most challenging from a football perspective was that Gideon would have to play the waiting game upon his arrival. Out of camp in 2022, University of Nebraska transfer Austin Jablonski won the starting QB job. Then sophomore DJ McGarvie soon rose to the top of the depth chart as Jablonski became an All-American receiver. McGarvie went on to start the final 28 games of his collegiate career.
Playing time was sporadic for Stark, who redshirted his first semester at Concordia. The redshirt paved the way for an eventual fifth year inside the program. In year two, as a redshirt freshman, Stark threw his first career touchdown pass as part of a 55-26 win over Doane late in the 2023 season. Stark endeavored to use the long runway to a starting role as a positive. He referred to McGarvie as a “great role model.” Even so, Gideon was burning to play.
Says Gideon of the situation, “It wasn’t necessarily easy waiting three years to play football again. Guys would make jokes at practice that I hadn’t been hit in three years. It was a lot of mental reps and being there learning from DJ, reading defenses and learning the offense. I had to stay mentally ready knowing that anything could happen any game or any day in practice. I stayed committed to football and was there for my teammates. I was ready to step up when my time came.”
Though a rookie last season in terms of starting experience, Stark showed he was prepared for the moment. He piloted the 2025 offense that averaged 34.8 points and 384.9 yards per game after it had returned just two starters from the previous season. The unit hardly missed a beat as Stark threw for multiple touchdowns in seven of 10 games and the likes of Adam Van Cleave and Carlos Collazo became breakout stars (unfortunately, Collazo went down with an injury in game five). And Stark still didn’t have to take many hits. He was sacked only three times all year.
But Stark knows he can be better. He wants to cut back on the 12 interceptions he threw last season and improve upon his completion percentage. More than anything, he wants to win. There’s a feeling inside the program that there is unfinished business yet to settle. Daberkow’s Bulldogs have gone a combined 15-5 over the past two seasons, but the playoffs have eluded them.
“My biggest takeaway is that we didn’t make the playoffs,” Stark said in assessing his performance in 2025. “That’s something we want to do. With ‘Team 100’ this year, that’s something we want to push for. We overcame a lot of close games and were able to fight back and win games we needed to win. There were those games that didn’t go our way, and I didn’t enjoy that too much.”
Stark’s two roommates, also fifth year student-athletes, are of the same mind. Those roommates are fellow returning offensive starters in left tackle Derek Campbell and tight end Maddox Rickertsen. Their return was another nudge towards an encore for Stark. For at least one more year, Daberkow and Stark will remain neighbors. Daberkow joked that he knew he had a tough quarterback when he saw Gideon trimming weeds in gym shorts.
“They’ve played a lot of football together and they want to end on a high note,” Daberkow said. “We feel like we haven’t gotten to where we want to be yet, so they want to run it back. It’s not just Gideon. It’s all those guys. It’s fun to see the passion and desire they have to accomplish something they set out to do. I’m very excited about Gideon and that whole group of seniors and super seniors. They’ve been fun to coach. We’ve got a lot of talent. I’m looking forward to seeing it on the field next year.”
Added Daberkow of what to expect from Stark in his second season as a starter, “After you have a year under your belt, you really start figuring things out. Through the offseason, you know what to expect, you see things coming and you know how to handle situations because you’ve been there before. For him to have that in his back pocket is a huge thing. It’s going to help him a lot.”
The right arm of the 6-foot-6 Texan will have a large say in what becomes of the 2026 season, the 100th in the history of Concordia Football. Many of those teams have included a Stark – and others in Gideon’s bloodline. (Gideon’s father Paul lettered in the 1992 through 1994 seasons for Coach Courtney Meyer). A cousin will also be joining the team this fall.
Gideon has relished the opportunity to carry on the family tradition. Says Gideon, “I think it’s really cool that I’m able to play football in college and am able to play on the same team that my family has. It’s just fun to go out and play at practice and each Saturday and grow closer with my teammates.”