South Dakota State Jackrabbits 2026 Season Preview

Jackson's Jackrabbits still humming

Dan Jackson pushed South Dakota State to a 9-5 finish and a No. 8 power ranking, numbers that read like a program still operating near the top of the MVFC even in a season that split its conference slate 4-4. The overall record and rating are the story here, a double-digit-win-caliber roster that closed 2025 on solid footing heading into 2026. Nothing about the results points to instability, just a staff building on a nine-win baseline.

Henry Inherits a Defense-First Team

South Dakota State's identity in 2026 runs through a defense that allowed just 319 yards per game (11th nationally) and kept opponents off schedule at a solid clip, not through the passing attack. Jack Henry is projected to take over at quarterback after throwing for 605 yards with 5 touchdowns against 6 interceptions in a limited 2025 look, and he inherits an offense that already ranked a respectable 35th in success rate but was middling in explosiveness at 94th. The formula for the Jackrabbits stays the same: let the defense and a plus-4 turnover margin control field position while Henry avoids the mistakes that plagued last year's passing numbers.

Jack Henry takes the first-team reps into 2026 as the front-runner, but his 605 yards, 5 touchdowns and 6 interceptions from last season are not the resume of a settled starter, and the job is not his outright. Preston Otter and Jack Thue are both back to push him, while Tresten Hass and Kaden Harney arrived to add fresh competition to the room. Chase Mason, who threw for 2021 yards and 15 touchdowns, is the production this group actually has to replace, and until Henry cleans up the turnover rate, the door stays open for someone else to win the camp battle.

Julius Loughridge's 1,004 yards walk out the door, but Dan Jackson isn't starting from zero: James Basinger (308 yards, 5 TD) and Josiah Johnson (320 yards, 6 TD) both handled real workloads in a backfield that split carries rather than leaning on one back. Corey Blair Jr. adds a proven change-of-pace option off his 96 yards, and incoming high school signee Gavin McLaren from Atlantic gives the room a new name to develop even with no stats on file yet. The Jackrabbits ran for just 153 yards per game (57th nationally) a year ago, so replacing Loughridge's production likely comes by committee, with Basinger and Johnson pushed into bigger roles rather than a single clear successor.

Alex Bullock's 71 catches for 944 yards and Grahm Goering's 656 yards walk out the door, but Jack Smith (33 catches, 396 yards, 4 TD) and Lofton O'Groske (26 catches, 361 yards, 3 TD) return as the proven pieces of a passing game that put up 227 yards per game through the air, good for 42nd nationally. Sammy Dresie adds a modest 5 catches back to the room, while incoming high school signee Jovan Green joins alongside Jhace Woods and Alex Uchtman to restock the depth chart. Smith and O'Groske combined can approach what Bullock alone produced, and if Dan Jackson gets even one explosive season from either, the passing attack that ranked 94th in explosiveness has real room to jump.

Greyton Gannon is the engine here, coming off 33 catches for 372 yards and a role as a legitimate third-down and red-zone target in an offense that ranked 35th in success rate. Andrew Gustad only caught three passes but turned all three into touchdowns, and Brayden Delahoyde matched that scoring rate on two grabs, giving Dan Jackson a room full of efficient finishers even without much volume behind Gannon. The bigger swing for 2026 is replacing Coleman Kuntz's 82 yards and touchdown, and with Ben Brooks, Sebastyen Fries and Shane Henderson all unproven as pass catchers, Gannon's target share only grows if this passing attack is going to hold onto its 42nd-ranked production.

Kenyon BigBow, Quinten Christensen, Thomas Dwyer, Micah Hach and Caden Hotz all sit atop the depth chart again, giving Dan Jackson a room with real continuity even after losing Nate Adams and Sam Hagen off last year's front. That group helped push an offense that ranked 42nd in passing yards per game and 35th in success rate, though the 64th-ranked yards per play and 94th-ranked explosiveness mark showed a line that moved the ball steadily but rarely broke a game open. Vanderbilt transfer Cooper Starks arrives to push for interior snaps, and if he wins a starting spot immediately it adds a Power Conference body to a unit that otherwise returns mostly intact.

A line that held teams to 319 yards a game, good for 11th nationally, returns basically intact. Danny Bradley and Luke Krempges come back at end, with Sam Christensen, Logan Green and Reggie Kloehn anchoring inside, giving Dan Jackson the whole rotation that made SDSU stingy against the run at 126 yards allowed per game. The gaps are up front at tackle, where Mason Brosseau, Kobe Clayborne and Aaron Wolfcale-Holsten are gone along with edge piece Kevin Spelman, and the reinforcements are incoming freshmen Connor Heiderman out of Battle Creek and Elias Janssen out of Kimberly rather than portal additions. That passing-down number, 194 yards allowed and 29th nationally, is the one this group needs to push down, and it will lean on the returning starters to do it while the newcomers develop.

The Jackrabbits held opponents to 5.15 yards per play and 126 rushing yards a game a year ago, a front seven identity that stays intact with Beau Bakken, Ernest Blackshire Jr., Graham Eben, Kytan Fyfe, Matt Goehring and Bryce Johnson all back in the room. None of them carry gaudy stat lines on paper, but that group's continuity is what let South Dakota State finish 11th nationally in yards allowed per game, and it gives Dan Jackson a linebacker corps that does not need a full reset to hold that line in 2026. Barry Fries, a 3-star arrival from Elkhorn North, joins as developmental depth rather than an instant answer to the one soft spot on that defense, an opponent-passing number ranked 29th that this same group of returners will be tasked with tightening.

A back end that ranked 11th nationally in yards allowed per game returns almost entirely intact, with Finn Benz and Cam Cribari back at safety and Austin Bradley, Cody Cotton, Myles Green and Jamari Holliman all back at corner. None carry gaudy numbers on the stat sheet, which fits a group that won by keeping things in front of it rather than making splash plays, evident in a middling 31st-ranked mark for keeping opponents on schedule. Dan Jackson did not stand pat regardless, adding Dominick Walters and Shane Veenhof at safety and Robert Hunter and Emeir White at corner, depth that lets South Dakota State push to tighten the 29th-ranked pass defense without asking a set of unproven starters to do it alone.

Eli Stader took his 75 points and 46-yard leg out the door, leaving Ryan Harrington as the only proven placekicker in the room after going 1 of 1 last season, and Nebraska transfer Tristan Alvano arrives to push for the job with no college numbers yet on file. The bigger hole is at punter, where Max Pelham's 41 punts and 47-yard average simply aren't being replaced by name in this fact set, and long snapper Carson Strohbeen has to steady a new specialist group after Kaydon Olivia's departure. Dan Jackson's kicking operation is a projection built on Harrington's small sample and Alvano's pedigree rather than proven production.

Jack Henry at Quarterback

Chase Mason threw for 2021 yards and 15 touchdowns last fall, and none of that production walks back through the door. Jack Henry, who threw 605 yards with 5 touchdowns against 6 interceptions in his own action, is projected to take over full-time, and the interception total is the number that matters most given he already has Jack Smith and Lofton O'Groske to throw to. If Henry tightens up the turnovers, the receiving corps and James Basinger give South Dakota State enough to hold steady, if he does not, that pick total balloons against a real MVFC schedule.

Dan Jackson's Conference Cover Problem

South Dakota State went 9-5 straight up but 5-8 against the number, and the split is entirely a conference-play problem: a 4-4 mark in the MVFC turned into a 1-7 cover rate, the kind of gap that points to a program winning games it was expected to win comfortably and doing it ugly. The road form actually held up, with SDSU covering at 40% away from Brookings and cashing its lone try as a road underdog outright, so the fade is specific to how bookmakers price Dan Jackson's team once league lines tighten. Backing this squad against the number in conference road games again in 2026 is a bet against a pattern that showed up all last season.