March 2 – Brookings – Dan Jackson will go to the field as a jackrabbits chief coach for the first time when the state of southern Dakota launches the spring football training.
The first of their 15 sessions begins at 6:30 am on Tuesday. The spring match (yes, they have one) is scheduled for Saturday, April 12.
Obviously, the jacks will be clearly different from a year ago, when their season ended with a defeat in the semi-final of the FCS against the state of Dakota in the North.
Jimmy Rogers and all his coache staff left, with the quarter-Arrière Mark Gronowski, the receiver Griffin Wilde, the secondary Adam Bock, the Dalys Beanum corner half and several other offensive and defensive starters.
Jackson brought back the former SDSU coordinators, Eric Eidsness (Offense) and Brian Bergstrom (defense) to bring some familiarity to the new coach staff, and was able to bring a handful of transfers to reappoponate the list.
Now work begins.
There are many questions faced by the jackrabbits as spring arrives, here are five on which we will focus this week:
1. The post-Gronowski era begins
Apart from Iowa Hawkeyes for his last year of admissibility to university football, all that Gronowski has been to bring the jacks to three games from the national championship, winning two, while going undefeated as a home Starter. Not a bad inheritance.
In Steps Chase Mason, a 4 -foot senior 4 inch and 230 pounds which was nothing less than one of the greatest high secondary athletes in the history of the state. The jacks have given him many representatives in the past two seasons after being transferred from Nebraska, and he looked great as a runner and good as a passer.
Is it ready to be the QB1 of all versions? How can he order the group and work under pressure? When Eidssness was here for the last time, he developed Taryn Christion in the passer of all Jacks. It will be interesting to see what he can do with Mason.
Meanwhile, Tak Tateoka, a former Starter in St. Thomas, was transferred to push Jon Bell Senior for the place of rescue, while the former outskirts of Dell Rapids Jack Henry continues to develop as a future potential starter.
2. Who knocks the rock?
Johnson and Johnson (Amar and Angel) have evolved. The same goes for promising young Kirby Vorhees and Maxwell Woods. The best turnways include the former star of 9 men Brenden Begeman and the first -year student Redshirt Quinton Renfro, but Jackson called on a potential impact runner in Nate White, a transfer of Wisconsin.
White, who has three years of eligibility, was a four-star recruit coming out of high school, when he chose badgers over Minnesota, Iowa State, Purdue and Vanderbilt. Will it be ready for regular races by week 1? Spring will greatly help decide this.
3. How fast can transfers are assimilated?
White is one of the many coming to SDSU from another university football program, while Jackson has adopted the transfer portal – partly out of necessity – to restore the list after so many defections.
There is no question that the jacks have acquired legitimate talents. White is part of a handful of future players from Big Ten, while lower level transfers such as the second Matt Goehring (Division II USF) and the offensive hob John Pica (Naia Dakota Wesleyan) are probably able to be important contributors.
All must find their place in the program, and the adjustment period is different for everyone. The jacks have no doubt experienced more success among the players who were transferred to level FCS than in Down. The spring session will be vital for newcomers to prepare to take significant pictures in the fall.
Who will intensify?
One thing that would not be different even if Rogers would never have left would be the opportunity for those waiting in the wings and will now have their first chance of replacing deceased starters.
The Begeman and Renfro aforementioned to the ball carrier are two which will have the trouble to keep an eye on, but there are many others.
The Large Jack Smith receiver was the southern Dakota player in 2023 for the Lincoln High School and impressed last year as a red shirt. Can he help fill the void left by Wilde?
The seconds Joe Ollman and Chase Van Tol, the defensive terminations Nick Wells and Reis Kirschenman, the offensive line players Will Paepke and Shane Willenbring, the ends tight David Alpers and Greyton Gannon and the Noah St. Jute Cornerback are only a few players who have already shown a promise that will be able to make the next stars team in a championship.
5. What will Dan Jackson culture look like?
John Stiegelmeier spent more than two decades cultivating an environment that has become both the backbone and the heart rate of Jackrabbit football, and this resulted in the first national championship of the program in 2022. When Rogers took over, he did a silent job to maintain Stiegelmeier culture while adding his own lower settings – greater culture and stronger.
Jackson has been a large part of this culture for a long time. He was at one point the assistant head coach and assistant recruiter of Stiegelmeier, and was so popular with the players, many openly hoped that he would end up succeeding Stiegelmeier. Jackson worked alongside Rogers, Eidsness, Bergstrom, Jason Eck, Zach Lujan and so many other former Jackrabbit coaches, and then underwent necessary growth pain at the FBS level. Bring back Eidsness and Bergstrom guarantees that the program will always be similar to that created by Stiegelmeier.
But these coaches are brand new in players currently on the list. According to all the indications, Jackson has already calmed the waters and brought back stability to the program. The players are purchased.
Will Jackson also be able to continue the tradition? Expectations remain high despite turnover. Rogers had the advantage of inheriting a flawless list in 2023, while Jackson has a ton of questions to answer and problems to be solved.
Can he put his own stamp on the program and win by doing so? This work strikes the ground from Tuesday morning.
