South Dakota State football eager to 'write their own story' in 2024 after losing program cornerstones

This isn’t going to be last year’s Jackrabbits.

South Dakota State football coach Jimmy Rogers made that abundantly clear during his speech in front of program boosters, athletes, and media Wednesday.

“2023 was unbelievable. Everything we set out to accomplish, we accomplished,” he said.

The second-year head coach took a poignant pause before making his next statement.

“That was last year," Rogers said. “So, I’ll state this as clearly as I can: Our focus as a program is not about what we’ve done, it's about where we’re going.”

SDSU is in a bit of a transition period. The Jackrabbits are in the process of replacing players that have been program cornerstones for the past six years. There are Mason McCormick and Garret Greenfield-sized holes in the offensive line, Isaiah Davis will no longer be lining up in the backfield, and last year’s Walter Payton Award Winner Mark Gronowski no longer has his two favorite targets in the Janke twins. The Jackrabbits have added 36 new players, 31 of which are freshmen and five are transfers.

But even without those key players they've lost, SDSU was still voted to finish first in the Missouri Valley Football Conference in the preseason poll, and for good reason. They're still extremely talented and now players who have been itching for a larger role on the team are going to get more opportunities. Amar Johnson is a player who has waited years behind Davis and now will be the number one running back on the team. Grahm Goering is another player who has quite a bit of experience under his belt and is now primed to be one of the two main receivers alongside Griffin Wilde.

“A lot of people outside of this building have not seen the guys that have really been putting in the work that are going to end up being great starters for us,” Gronowski said. “And I'm really excited for those guys to step up to the challenge.”

If there were any doubts about his team’s experience, Rogers stressed that there shouldn’t be. After South Dakota State finished practice Wednesday morning, Rogers reminded his team that they actually have more combined reps together than the Jackrabbits team that made it to the 2021 FCS National Championship game.

“It gives us confidence,” Gus Miller said of the stat. “I think a lot of those guys see the past team and think about how amazing and great they are, but they kind of get intimidated by that. So just making them feel comfortable and showing them how much progress that we've made from that season helps.”

Since the spring, the team has focused on separating themselves from the program’s recent success, leaving it in the past and focusing on what they can do to put themselves in position to win this year. With the amount of new players looking to integrate themselves in new roles, Wilde said the team has talked a lot about writing their own story.

“I'm excited that that was one of the things that they wanted to create on their own because it goes back to eliminating the outside distraction,” Rogers said. “Just compete for your role, and then it's really their job to write the narrative of how their story ends this season.”

Although many of the franchise cornerstones that have helped build this program are gone, Rogers said his team will continue to play with the same focus, dedication, and commitment to each other.

"This is a special group," Rogers said. "And we have many more players coming into this program that are bought in to carry the standard going forward."

South Dakota State will take on Oklahoma State in their season opener in Stillwater, Oklahoma on Saturday, Aug. 31.

Jonathan Fernandez covers high school and college sports for the Argus Leader. Contact him at jfernandez1@argusleader.com . Follow him on Twitter at @JFERN31

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota State football eager to 'write their own story' in 2024 after losing program cornerstones