BROOKINGS When South Dakota State takes the field at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, on Sunday it will be the final game for many of its starting players.
Eighteenof SDSUs 22 starters are seniors and while a few players have another year of eligibility, many of them will be putting on the yellow and blue for the final time. The group of seniors helped win the programs first national championship last season and will look to go back-to-back on Sunday when they take on Montana.
The senior class has helped the Jackrabbits win 28-straight games, which is the third longest win streak in FCS history.
I think what theyve done is incredible, said SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers. This will be the winningest senior group in school history.
It’s a senior group that has worked hard to get to where theyre at. This was the 11th consecutive season that SDSU has made the playoffs, but it wasnt until this group came along that the Jacks got over the hump in the postseason.
SDSU had made the semifinals in 2017 and 2018, but came up short in making the championship game. The Jacks finally broke through in the 2021 spring season and made the championship but fell to Sam Houston State in the title game.
They would make their way back to Frisco a year and a half later and this time finished at the top of the mountain as they dismantled hated rival North Dakota State.
Rogers was a part of the first team that played Division I football at SDSU and played in the Jacks first ever FCS playoff game. He said becoming an FCS power was something he set out to do when he played linebacker for the Jacks in the late 2000s.
I envisioned being the best team in the country when I committed here. Does it take time? It took years of heartache and a consistent effort and will and finding the right kids who want to compete day-in-and-day-out, we have that, Rogers said.
He added that its special to be the one coaching the Jacks in the championship almost 20 years after they made the jump to Division I and the senior class deserves to keep the win streak alive and finish as two-time national champions.
This means the world to me. Its been years in the making. Its not just this one team because a team year-to-year is an accumulation of years that theyve put into this already. This senior class is special because of the years of work that has gone into this. It means the world to me to lead this senior class. Its one last game and we need to finish on the right note, Rogers said.
When you talk to SDSU players and coaches they bring up culture a lot. Nothing showed that culture more than the offseason after the Jacks won the national championship. Many FCS players have taken the opportunity that the transfer portal has given them and moved up to the FBS level. Not the SDSU players. They all decided to come back for a final season.
I think the grass isnt always greener on the other side, SDSU sixth-year offensive lineman Mason McCormick said. You see a lot of these guys go into the portal and a lot of them go to be a depth guy and a bigger level. Theres a ton of reasons [that we came back]. The community of Brookings is amazing, our coaching staff is great, our facilities are great and just the brotherhood that we have with each other, theres nothing like it. To take your chances in the portal to see if theres something better, I don’t think that’s something that somebody in this program should risk, because I dont think there is a ton better.
The brotherhood that McCormick talks about stems from the head coach. Rogers has gone through ups and downs of being student-athlete at SDSU and wants to make sure the Jacks continue down the right path. He said the legacy that the seniors leave wont be because of all the wins theyve stacked up, but the way theyve led the rest of the team throughout their time at SDSU.
I talk about this all the time with the guys, leaving your legacy, Rogers said. And that has nothing to do with wins and losses, it has to do with your individual approach to impacting other people around you. I dont know if we will see their legacy, and hopefully we dont. Hopefully nothing changes.
Thats how youll know if they left their mark because our team will remember the experiences and the connection and what made those players great and will mimic that to have the same type of success. They have talent, but theres a lot of people with talent. Its about how you work day-in-day-out to be at your best and concur with moments in your life, to not surrender to complacency and be average. This group has it. I think its rare, but I hope in years to come we dont drop a beat because of what these individuals have done for this football team.
Many of the seniors have taken that lesson to heart. One of McCormicks teammates on the offensive line, sixth-year senior Garret Greenfield, said theres an accountability factor between the seniors to make sure everyone is working to improve.
Its very cool to have such a veteran led team. I think we set an example every day that last year doesnt matter. We say it all the time, whats been done in the past doesnt have anything to do with the future. So, no matter what has happened, theres so many guys who take that seriously and show up and dont let anything factor into how hard they work and how much they push themselves to get better, Greenfield said.
When this group of seniors take the field for the final time on Sunday, win or lose, McCormick wants to make sure that everyone takes in the final moment of representing SDSU football.
For me, and some other guys, youre just trying to soak it all in and live up the last moments the best you can and enjoy the last ride. Ive had a heck of an experience here and I wouldnt trade it for anything, McCormick said.
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