VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota head football coach
Bob Nielson is pleased to announce the signing of 13 student-athletes to a National Letter of Intent. In addition, Nielson announced that two other high school standouts have accepted an offer of admissions to the University of South Dakota and plan to join the Coyote football program.
In a theme that has stayed consistent since Nielson's arrival late in 2015, the early signing class is comprised mainly of offensive and defensive linemen. Five are designated as offensive linemen and four are defensive linemen, but most played both ways in high school. The group also includes three defensive backs, two linebackers and a high school quarterback converting to wide receiver. Nearly the entire class competed in something other than football in high school.
"We always try to find the very best athletes, and I think we did that," said Nielson. "With your freshmen class, you want to find athletes with frames that you can develop and build over their time here. We also have many multi-sport athletes, which has always been something I have believed in. Their upside is so much bigger when they start to focus on just football as their sport."
It is another diverse class that hails from eight different states. Three come from South Dakota and five others are from neighboring states, but also represented are Florida (3), Missouri (2), Illinois (1) and Kansas (1).
"It represents all the states that we recruit," said Nielson. "We are focused on the Midwest region and then the state of Florida is the one area that we focus on outside of that regional footprint. To get kids from all corners of that area is a good job by our staff in identifying some really talented young men who are going to thrive in our program."
With a 2018 roster consisting of 13 seniors and the large number of returners to the Coyote program, this early signing class wasn't expected to be a large one numbers wise. That said, Nielson expects an additional group to be added in February.
"This is not going to be our complete class," said Nielson. "We have a couple of areas position wise that we didn't fill in this first signing group and that will be the focus of the next signing period.
"I don't think you're going to see the day where we will sign our entire class early because there are a number of high-quality prospects who make a conscious decision to wait for the next period. Certainly, we are excited about this group and their future with this program."
The NCAA mandates a dead period in recruiting running now through Jan. 10. The second signing period date is Feb. 6.
A listing of the 2019 early signing class is below.
2019 South Dakota Football Early Signing Class
| Name |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Hometown |
Previous School |
Hudl |
| Carter Bell |
WR |
5-10 |
180 |
Bettendorf, Iowa |
Bettendorf HS |
Video |
| Ryan Bena |
OL |
6-3 |
275 |
Omaha, Neb. |
Creighton Prep |
Video |
| Brady Booker |
LB |
6-3 |
240 |
LaSalle, Ill. |
Iowa Central CC |
Video |
| Cori Fant Jr. |
DB |
6-1 |
185 |
Tampa, Fla. |
Jefferson |
Video |
| Robert Ford III |
DB |
6-1 |
175 |
St. Peters, Mo. |
Lutheran HS |
Video |
| Nick Gaes |
DL |
6-4 |
235 |
Alta, Iowa |
Alta-Aurelia HS |
Video |
| D.J. Gross |
LB |
6-2 |
215 |
McCook, Neb. |
McCook HS |
Video |
| Blake Holden |
DL |
6-3 |
265 |
Watertown, S.D. |
Watertown HS |
Video |
| Cliff Johnson |
OL |
6-5 |
285 |
Lake Andes, S.D. |
Andes Central HS |
Video |
| Jake Larsen |
DL |
6-3 |
270 |
Harrisburg, S.D. |
Harrisburg HS |
Video |
| Joey Lombard |
OL |
6-5 |
305 |
Anoka, Minn. |
Anoka HS |
Video |
| Jontrell Oliver |
DL |
6-3 |
245 |
Tampa, Fla. |
East Bay HS |
Video |
| Tyler Perry |
DB |
6-3 |
190 |
North Port, Fla. |
Port Charlotte HS |
Video |
| Tyler Smith |
OL |
6-5 |
270 |
Joplin, Mo. |
Joplin HS |
Video |
| Siler Tschirhart |
OL |
6-8 |
250 |
Overland Park, Kan. |
Blue Valley HS |
Video |
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