A look at USD football's National Signing Day recruiting class
VERMILLION, S.D.— South Dakota head football coach Bob Nielson is pleased to announce the addition of 19 early signees from the high school ranks and three four-year college transfers during the 2024 early signing period Wednesday.
The high school class features nine offensive players, nine defensive players and one specialist. They hail from a familiar geographical footprint that has been established throughout Nielson's tenure. It's heavy in the tri-state area with familiar dabbles into Florida, Colorado, Illinois and Kansas.
"The early signing date has become the day in which you get the majority of your incoming class committed and we've certainly done that with this group," said Nielson. "This class provides our team with depth at all positions."
The graduation of several All-American and All-conference performers provides new openings, and Nielson said there are young men here who can develop rapidly. He also said the success of this past season in which the team won a program-record 10 games and advanced to the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs certainly made an impact on the class.
"Young men want to play for winners, and the success that our team had was certainly an asset to our recruitment. The things that are important really have not changed. They want to go to a place where they know they are going to get a great education, develop to their fullest potential as players, and compete for championships and we definitely have all those three things going for us at the University of South Dakota."
The three four-year transfers are offensive lineman Adrian Hawkins from Monmouth, defensive lineman Carter Hooper from Connecticut, and linebacker Jonathan Bunce from St. Thomas. Biographical information on those players and an alphabetical listing of South Dakota's early signing class are included here.
2024 South Dakota Early Signing Class
Name | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Hometown | High School |
Evan Adams | DL | 6-4 | 245 | Breda, Iowa | Kuemper Catholic |
Lincoln Adams | LB | 6-1 | 200 | Lake Zurich, Ill. | Lake Zurich |
Jacob Arop | OL | 6-6 | 270 | South Omaha, Neb. | Bellevue West |
JT Brands | DL | 6-1 | 270 | Oakland, Neb. | Oakland-Craig |
Mason Cowgill | TE | 6-4 | 220 | Erie, Colo. | Erie |
Brendan Crispe | OL | 6-9 | 285 | Castle Pines, Colo. | Arapahoe |
Caden Frey | TE | 6-6 | 225 | Red Cloud, Neb. | Red Cloud |
Sam Hawker | OL | 6-9 | 305 | Monona, Wis. | Monona Grove |
Crew Heier | LB | 6-4 | 215 | Hartford, S.D. | West Central |
Dreavin Hodge | RB | 6-0 | 190 | Sioux Falls, S.D. | Lincoln |
Nick Mayfield | QB | 6-2 | 180 | Chicago, Ill. | Eisenhower |
Tommy Meckna | WR | 6-2 | 180 | Omaha, Neb. | Elkhorn North |
QJ Moore Jr. | LB | 6-1 | 215 | Lakeland, Fla. | Lake Gibson |
Mikey Munn | DB | 6-0 | 185 | Windsor, Colo. | Windsor |
Sam Parks | K | 5-8 | 150 | Wichita, Kan. | Maize South |
Beau Ryan | LB | 5-11 | 215 | Omaha, Neb. | Westside |
Dawson Sechser | DB | 6-0 | 185 | Sioux Falls, S.D. | Jefferson |
Jamal Streeter | WR | 5-10 | 175 | Port Charlotte, Fla. | Port Charlotte |
Jahiem Williams | DB | 5-10 | 175 | Miramar, Fla. | Miramar |
Signed Financial Aid Agreement to attend USD as a transfer
Name | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Hometown | High School/Previous School |
Jonathan Bunce | LB | 6-3 | 240 | Edina, Minn. | Edina HS/St. Thomas (Minn.) |
Adrian Hawkins | OL | 6-6 | 290 | Baltimore, Md. | DeMatha Catholic HS/Monmouth (N.J.) |
Carter Hooper | DL | 6-5 | 265 | Toronto, Ont. | IMG Academy (Fla.)/UConn |
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: South Dakota football earns 19 early signees on national signing day
