3 Jackrabbits sign free agent deals

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Three South Dakota State football players signed NFL free agent deals on Saturday after going undrafted.

Mikey Daniel, who played running back for the Jackrabbits, signed a deal as a fullback for the Atlanta Falcons. Linebacker Christian Rozeboom signed with the Los Angeles Rams and fullback Luke Sellers signed with the Detroit Lions.

Each player will have to compete for a position on the 53-man roster during training camp in August. Daniel, Rozeboom and Sellers join former teammate Dallas Goedert as current SDSU players in the NFL. It was the first time since 2017 that SDSU did not have a player drafted.

Daniel, a Brookings native, ran for 1,728 yards and 29 touchdowns during his SDSU career. Rozeboom finished as SDSU’s all-time leader in tackles with 475. He also had 29 tackles for a loss, eight forced fumbles and eight interceptions.

Sellers played fullback his entire career for the Jacks. He helped SDSU rush for 198.2 yards per game in 2019. He scored his only touchdown of his career in 2019 against South Dakota.

SDSU went 8-5 in 2019. They were the No. 8 seed in the FCS Playoffs last season and lost in the second round to Northern Iowa 13-10. 

The Jacks return a lot of their weapons on offense. They return their leading rusher in Pierre Strong Jr. and their leading reciever in Cade Johnson.

Strong ran for 1,018 yards and eight touchdowns in 11 games in 2019. Johnson caught 72 passes for 1,222 yards and eight touchdowns last season.

SDSU will have a quarterback competition in fall camp  leading up to this season between sophomores J’Bore Gibbs and Keaton Heide. Gibbs was the starter at the beginning of the 2019 season, but only played in six games due to injury. He threw for 1,058 yards, 10 touchdowns and four interceptions. Heide played in seven games and and threw for 1,072 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions.

The Jacks first game of the 2020 season is scheduled for Sept. 5th against Butler at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings.