Trailing by 26 points against Alberta last weekend with 20 minutes to play, Bisons football head coach Brian Dobie pulled fourth-year quarterback Jackson Tachinski aside. Their conversation was brief, but important, and a catalyst for the largest comeback in school history against the Golden Bears, 38-37 in OT.
 
"I started to say something to the effect of look, you're going to get all kinds of support. The defence is going to make tackles, we're going to get the ball back. People are going to protect you and block for you, and receivers will catch the ball. But you're the only guy that's going to get us back," recalled Dobie.
 
"No guard is going to win this game, no rush end is going to win this game, no defensive back is going to win this game. There's only one guy who's going to win this game, and you're capable of winning the game. With all due respect, all the pressure is on you. And I know that you can handle the pressure."
 
In the span of just over a quarter, Tachinski proved his coach right.
 
The Vincent Massey grad went 13-for-15 in 15:46, throwing for 166 yards and a touchdown, completing passes to seven different receivers along the way. He added 89 of his career-high 146 rushing yards during that span, gaining more confidence with each drive.
 
The most impressive play from Tachinski came on his rushing major which made the score 30-17 in the fourth.
 
On a second and short under centre – a drive aided by a fumble recovery from the Bisons' defence –  with left guard Giordano Vaccaro paving the way, Tachinski muscled past three defenders, breaking multiple tackles to the end zone for a 13-yard score.
 
"[Alberta] forced me to make plays with my arm, they dropped deep a lot and forced me into check-downs," acknowledged Tachinski at the time.
 
"Once I got my arm into the game and we started to move the ball passing, the flood gates opened and that opened up a lot for our offence. Specifically late in the third and fourth, I think we wore down the other team. They started to get a lot of injuries, and we were just the tougher team today."
 
 
'They just trust and believe in him'
The touchdown was a microcosm of Tachinski's play as QB1 for the program. He's 7-3 as starting quarterback in one-score games, with no moment being too big.
 
In 2021, Tachinski, then a redshirt freshman, was sprung into action following a season-ending injury to the program's all-time leading passer Des Catellier. He calmly led Manitoba to a second-place finish in the regular season, and their first home playoff game since 2013.
 
Last year, the dual-threat pivot led Canada West in rushing touchdowns, while throwing ten majors.
 
His most memorable performance came against Regina, a 41-34 win where the Herd scored the game-winning score in the final two minutes.
 
Tachinski went five-for-seven for 62 yards on the game-winning drive, keeping multiple plays alive with his feet while using elite vision downfield to find open targets AK Gassama, Michael O'Shea, Nathan Udoh and Vaughan Lloyd. 

Tachinski capped the drive with a three-yard rushing major on a read option play where he used his speed and size to muscle his way to the goal line.   
 
"That was my first game-winning drive the field score in U SPORTS. I think that was a good monkey to get off my back," said the ultra-competitive pivot. "I hadn't had that before. It was a big, positive step for my career."
 
Tachinski knows what he's capable of, which is why Manitoba's never out of a game, regardless of the score. He's won a championship at every level of football he's played in, including being named Tournament MVP during flag football nationals in high school.
 
This year, he's helped guide the Herd to a national ranking of eight, and their best regular season record (6-1) since winning the Vanier Cup in 2007. He's thrown for 1504 yards, just 74 shy of his career high from last year, while his 512 rushing yards are a personal best.



A Bisons win this weekend against UBC will give the Herd the right to host the Canada West semi-final and final, along with the national semi, also something they haven't been able to do in 17 years.
 
"It's funny, the way I know him, he's a somewhat quiet, reserved kind of guy. He's thoughtful. But the other side of him, I don't know who I've coached who's any more so competitive than Jackson Tachinski," said Dobie.
 
"He's ultra-competitive. That was [Hardy Cup championship quarterback] Shane Munson, way back in 2001. Those were his literal words. Watch me go. I think Jackson is exactly that. He's ultra- competitive. I think he plays better the more stress and pressure that's on him. I think he accelerates. It brings out the best in him because of who he is. Everybody doesn't have that in them, and every quarterback truly, certainly doesn't have that in them. That's one of the biggest reasons his teammates respond to him the way that they do. They just trust him and believe in him."
 
For as confident as Tachinski is on the field, he's just as humble off of it. The sport has helped him develop as a human being, and provided countless opportunities, such as an East-West Bowl invite and CFL internship.
Tachinski will be draft eligible next spring, and hopes to continue playing at the pro level as well.
 
"I'm a quieter guy. I would be a leader, but I wouldn't be the leader I am today without football," he admitted.
 
"I think it's grown me into the man I am today, especially the position of quarterback. It teaches you a lot of things about how people operate and how people like to communicate. You have to get out of your comfort zone a bit. Not everyone is comfortable standing in front of a group of people and telling them what to do and directing others. I've been outside my comfort zone playing football, but at the same time you kind of grow into that comfort zone."