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