‘Never seen this much momentum’: South Dakota State having a huge summer on the football recruiting trail

Jun. 25—BROOKINGS — South Dakota State is enjoying an incredible summer on the recruiting trail.

That’s not exactly a surprise. The Jackrabbits are, after all, coming off a second straight FCS national championship and will take a 29-game winning streak into their season opener at Oklahoma State on Aug. 31. They wouldn’t have accomplished all of that if they weren’t already doing excellent work in recruiting.

But things have definitely reached another level of late.

SDSU has received verbal commitments from 20 players from the 2025 class (high school seniors this fall), and while all caveats about the unpredictable nature of recruiting apply, the schools they’re beating out and competing with for recruits is beyond anything we’ve seen before. There was a time not so long ago when the Jacks rarely (if ever) beat rival North Dakota State for a player, even kids from South Dakota.

Now the Jacks are consistently getting prep stars to choose SDSU over the Bison, while also beating out schools from the FBS level and in some cases even the power conferences. Within the 2025 class are players who had offers from Michigan State, Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Washington State, most of the MidAmerican Conference (MAC) and the service academies (Army, Navy and Air Force), among others.

For an FCS school, that’s simply unheard of. But while becoming a national player on the recruiting scene is a big deal for SDSU, it doesn’t mean they’re abandoning their focus on local talent. The Jacks’ dominance of in-state recruiting has never been stronger, as they continue to be the preferred destination for South Dakota’s top players.

Brandon wide receiver Landon Dulaney chose the Jacks over Boise State and NDSU, among others. O’Gorman linebacker Sullivan Schlimgen picked SDSU over an offer from Texas Tech, and Sioux Falls Christian offensive…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/never-seen-much-momentum-south-234600438.html

Author : The Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.

Publish date : 2024-06-25 23:46:00

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