BROOKINGS South Dakota State opens up the 2025 season on Saturday night against a top-15 opponent in Sacramento State and the Hornets will present a challenge that may be something the Jackrabbits face throughout the season.
That challenge is facing a team that is completely different from the one a season ago. For the Hornets, that may be a good thing as they went 3-9 overall and 1-7 in the Big Sky last season. But for the Jackrabbits, it makes it tough to scout their season-opening opponent.
Sac State brought in 42 Division I transfers in the offseason and have a brand new coaching staff. SDSU head coach Dan Jackson, who is also a newly appointed head coach, said not knowing how each of those new guys on Sac State are going to play will make his team focus more on themselves.
Its really unique. I think it just puts a higher sense of focusing on us and giving guys simple keys and simple calls so that we can play fast. As coaches, sometimes you want to look so much into the weeds to see what a team could do. Well, the reality is that they could do a lot of things and play a lot of players. We need to be the best version of ourselves on Saturday and thats really where our focus is, Jackson said.
34 of the 42 transfers come from the FBS level and 11 of them come from power-four (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC) programs. Sac State also added eight players from other FCS schools and has 25 freshmen, bringing the total number of newcomers to 67.
So how will Jackson and his staff prepare for so many unknowns? He said his staff has to go back and watch film at other schools both for the new players and the new staff at Sac State.
You have to study the personnel initially, just to see what theyve done at places theyve done in the past. Some guys, thats more than others. Some guys have played a lot at their other schools and some guys havent played much, so theres not much film on those guys. We also go back to the high school scouting reports. Its just having a feel for what youre going to see and trying to predict how theyre going to use those pieces. And then youre going back to the different places coaches have been and youre going back five, six, seven, eight years to try to see how they might call a game and what identity they have, Jackson said.
Sacramento States new head coach is Brennan Marion. He comes from UNLV where he spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator in Las Vegas. His offense is referred to as a Go-Go offense and averaged 36.2 points per game last season, which was 14th in the FBS. Jackson said he expects to see multiple quarterbacks and running backs.
The Hornets brought in former four-star high school recruit Jaden Rashada who started three games at Arizona State in 2023 before transferring to Georgia and not playing in the 2024 season. They also added Cardell Williams who comes from Tulsa and started four games in 2023.
Sac State has three transfers in the running back room who Jackson thinks will all see playing time on Saturday. Jamar Curtis comes from Lafayette and was a back-to-back All-Patriot League First Team selection with over 2,000 rushing yards and 31 touchdowns over the past two seasons.Rodney Hammond comes from Pitt and rushed for over 1,500 yards and 14 touchdowns in 36 games for the Panthers. Savion Red made his way to Sacramento from Nevada and had 687 yards and a team-high eight touchdowns for the Wolfpack last season.
Jackson said SDSU has been preparing for the kind of offense theyre going to see Saturday all of fall camp.
You can simulate their offense in practice and its something that you prepare for in fall camp because this isnt the only team that were going to play that wants to play fast, Jackson said. I expect to see multiple quarterbacks and three to four running backs play. Were going to be prepared for it. They did a nice job bringing in some talent at quarterback. They have three or four guys that when you watch them on tape have starter capable talent.
So, I think their coaches are smart and have proven that they can play and win with multiple quarterbacks. I dont know if the system changes a ton, but depending on down and distance and where theyre at on the field and the momentum of the game, for them to not be scared off from playing multiple guys.
The Sac State defense is filled with transfers but the Hornets second-leading tackler, seventh-best tackler and 10th-leading tackler all return as well. Jackson thinks the Hornets will be talented on that side of the ball and expects to see different things thrown at them.
I think theyll mix it up. Theyll change some of their fronts. Theyll play some four-down fronts and some over-under, which is where they change where their defensive linemen are aligned, and then theyll play some odd fronts. I think theyll be aggressive. I think theyre going to be talented as a whole on defense. I think theyre going to be big on the D-line and fast and aggressive in the back seven. So, were expecting a challenge from a solid defense thats well-coached, plays hard and has really good athletes, Jackson said.
Sacramento State was in the news over the offseason because the school was trying to move to the FBS. Sac State was invited by an FBS conference and filed a petition to the NCAA in April to become an independent. The NCAA rejected the waiver request in late June, forcing the Hornets to stay in the FCS.
The school announced before the decision that it would be leaving the Big Sky and will join the Big West Conference as a full member starting with the 2026-27 academic year. The Big West does not have football in its conference so the school will be an independent FCS school if nothing changes.
Sacramento State president Luke Wood had referred to the FCS as JV football when talking about wanting to move to the FBS. When the move was denied he and South Dakota director of athletics Jon Schemmel got into a back-and-forth on X. Schemmel noted Woods comments about being JV and Wood responded with Wed put up 50 points on all of you this year. Best of luck with your conference.
Jackson said he and his team have not paid attention to any of the off the field stuff with the Hornets.
Were really just focused on us when it comes to any external talk. Social media isnt the real world. Were focused on what we can control, which is playing our best football, being the closest team in the country and competing at a high level, Jackson said.
Kickoff on Saturday night is scheduled for 6 p.m. You can watch the game on Midco Sports or ESPN+. You can listen to the game on the Jackrabbit Sports Network.
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