Like most non-scholarship players, Jake Coffman was not highly recruited to play football out of college. Like many families out there, Jake could not afford college and thus decided to pursue a career in the military. He joined the Marines where he worked as an engineer. He served tours of duty in Iraq and Kuwait that lasted 7 and 8 months. He rose to the rank of corporal and is now a sergeant on inactive duty. While at Camp Pendleton in California, he began playing football again and realized how much he loved and missed the game. When he finished his service, he contacted then-Northern Illinois assistant coach Greg Bower about walking on to the NIU team as a then 22-year old. He redshirted that first season, but has now become a starter on the Huskie defensive line as a 25-year old junior and has been one of the Most Valuable Players on the Northern Illinois defense this season. He leads NIU in tackles for loss and in quarterback sacks this year.