On the heels of winning back-to-back FCS national championships, South Dakota State football coach Jimmy Rogers took the podium during the Missouri Valley Conference Football Media Day on Wednesday morning.
Representatives from each Missouri Valley Conference football team took part in the annual media days this week.
After going undefeated in conference play in back-to-back seasons, the Jackrabbits were voted to win the conference again in the 2024 Missouri Valley Football Preseason Poll, earning 42 of the 44 first-place votes. The program also had 12 players for a league-best on the Preseason All-MVFC Team.
Here are five takeaways from Rogers’ media day session Wednesday.
More on Mark Gronowski’s decision to stay in Brookings
Rogers shed a bit more light on Gronowski’s decision to remain with the Jackrabbits after a spring filled with transfer speculation.
The second-year head coach said he’s always had a great relationship with Gronowski, ever since his freshman year. Rogers could relate to his star quarterback easily because of the shared experience of being a freshman in the SDSU football program and dealing with expectations. Rogers said it’s not rare for him and Gronowski to talk every day, so, not surprisingly, the reigning Walter Payton Award winner asked his head coach for advice.
Despite wanting him to stay in Brookings, Rogers said he wanted to make sure the quarterback made the best decision for himself. Together they weighed the pros and cons that helped Gronowski come to his decision.
“Obviously, I wanted him to stay here. Everybody knows that,” Rogers said. “But in the end, I think if you don’t change people’s perception of you, he’s going to get an opportunity, and there’s a team that believes in him, and there’s a team here that can take the next jump to win another national championship, and he can lead us to that.”
South Dakota State’s biggest challenge
After back-to-back FCS national titles and an active 29-game winning streak that spans the 2022 and 2023 seasons, it was almost a no-brainer that South Dakota State would be the favorite to come out on top in their conference.
The Jackrabbits will still have plenty of challenges they’ll have to navigate though, including replacing a large senior class., But Rogers said Wednesday that their biggest challenge will be the same as it was last year: blocking out the outside noise.
“None of what we hear really matters,” Rogers said. “It’s what we do in the building and what we believe in the core of who we are. It is not about being ranked number one. Nobody cares. First time we lose a game, the first thing that will be written about is what we are not or what we’ve lost, and we’re ready for that, and that comes with being at the top.”
Rogers said the focus remains the same. The team wants to stay disciplined and do everything, even the things they don’t want to do, the best they can every day.
Rogers’ confidence level in the defensive and offensive lines is high, even with the talent that has left the program
South Dakota State is undergoing some pretty big changes in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
On defense, they lost three of four starting linemen who played in the national championship game. They also lose two program cornerstones on the offensive line in Mason McCormick and Garret Greenfield, but Rogers remains confident in his squad.
“Can we replace two NFL guys? I don’t know if anybody in FCS can … (but) I feel really confident in our group, and I feel really confident in the youth in that offensive line,” Rogers said. “I think we’ve done an unbelievable job of developing it, but also recruiting it, and we’ve got some good ones in this class.”
Rimington Award winner Gus Miller will play a pivotal role in the Jacks offensive line, as will Evan Beerntsen, who Rogers called one of the best o-linemen in the country. South Dakota State also added an offensive lineman transfer from Oklahoma in Marcus Hicks, who Rogers said is someone who “has the skill set to play at the next level.”
The Jackrabbits’ defense remains largely in place
Even after losing NFL-caliber talent that they’ll have to replace, South Dakota State’s defense should be the team’s biggest strength. SDSU will bring back eight of their top 13 tacklers from a defense that allowed fewer than 10 points per game last season.
“The back end is really sound,” Rogers said. “I think the linebackers have a ton of experience, and we lost some defensive linemen, but we rotated so much defensively, I feel very confident in just how we’ve been able to develop our players, especially up front.”
Linebackers Adam Bock, Graham Spalding, Caleb Francl and Daeton Mcgaughy are all fifth or sixth-year seniors with starting experience. All-Missouri Valley Conference cornerback Dalys Beanum and safeties Tucker Large and Cale Reeder will help hold down the secondary for the Jacks.
Potential breakout players
South Dakota State wide receiver Griffin Wilde quickly made his impact felt in his first season with the Jackrabbits as a true…
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