Jacobs returning to competitive curling full-time next season

Brad Jacobs is returning to curling full time.

His role will be slightly different than the one he left, but he’s going to back on the competitive scene next season.

The 37-year-old Sault native will be joining Reid Carruthers' team next season on a full-time basis, Jacobs confirmed in an interview with CBC’s That Curling Show.

"I'm ready to get back in this thing full swing and there's a really good opportunity with Team Carruthers," Jacobs said in an interview with CBC’s Devin Heroux on the show.

Jacobs joined the Carruthers rink this season to fill in at third after the team parted ways with Jason Gunnlaugson in December. A week later, the Carruthers team announced that Jacobs would be joining the team for the remaining Grand Slam of Curling events this season.

Jacobs told Heroux that the fit with the Carruthers rink has been seamless.

"It's been an interesting season for myself and obviously Reid. We played in Camrose and had a lot of fun. I didn't really want to enter back in the men's game until at least 2023,” Jacobs said. “I certainly didn't expect to play this year, but Reid needed a guy, and I was available."

Jacobs added that he’s happy returning to the game competitively as a third.

"I was done with that position (skip),” Jacobs said. “I know how tough it is. Every position in curling is tough but the skip position is just that much more difficult and it takes a special person and personality to be in that position for years and years successfully."

Jacobs also played in the northern Ontario provincials this year, skipping a team that included third Jordan Chandler, second Kyle Chandler, and lead Jamie Broad.

Jacobs stepped away from competitive men’s curling at the end of last season but didn’t retire from the sport.

In a statement last March, Team Jacobs announced that Jacobs was “taking at least a year off from competitive curling” while the remaining members of the Jacobs rink, third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden would be joining new teams.

E.J. Harnden joined Brad Gushue’s Newfoundland and Labrador-based rink that won the 2023 Tim Hortons Brier over the weekend.

Ryan Harnden joined Matt Dunstone’s Manitoba-based team, which finished second in the Brier, and will serve as an alternate for Team Gushue at the World Men’s Curling Championship in April.

Kennedy joined Brenden Bottcher’s newly formed team in the off-season and the Bottcher rink finished third at the Brier.

In speaking on That Curling Show about curling with Jacobs, Carruthers spoke of the respect he has for the Sault native.

"We just felt like we clicked and were learning from each other. Brad is a student of the game,” Carruthers said. “Some of the things we've done with sweeping, he was right there soaking it up like a sponge. I feel like he's adding a wealth of knowledge to us as well.”