South Dakota Signing Day Headquarters

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VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota head football coach Bob Nielson is pleased to announce the signing of 24 student-athletes to a National Letter of Intent. In addition, Nielson announced the addition of Cody Jennings as a mid-year transfer, and that seven other high school standouts have accepted an offer of admissions to the University of South Dakota and plan to join the Coyote football program.
 
"I am excited to introduce a tremendous group of young men who are going to put a stamp on the future of our program," said Nielson, now entering his second season with the Coyotes. "We had two priorities and we were able to secure both of them. One was getting quality at every position that adds to our current roster. The second was addressing depth in the offensive and defensive lines."
 
Indeed, linemen make up more than half of the entire class. Also included are three linebackers, three defensive backs, two wide receivers, two tight ends, two running backs, a quarterback and a long snapper. Nielson and his staff also added a punter/place-kicker in Dominic Long from Gothenburg, Neb., to help fill the void left by All-American Miles Bergner.
 
"We were able to sign a large class because we had a large amount of interest," said Nielson. "Our program has momentum from playing the schedule that we do and we have demonstrated that we can play at a high level with anybody in the country. The commitment our university is making, signified by the new facilities and Dome renovations on the horizon, are the kinds of things that get young men excited about the future. We have a great university to represent."
 
The class includes players from nine states including Iowa (8), Minnesota (4), Kansas (4), Illinois (4), South Dakota (3), Florida (3), Missouri (3), Nebraska (2) and Wisconsin (1).
 
"Our class represents a combination of things," said Nielson. "It represents the fact that we are highly committed to recruiting regionally. It also represents areas we have continued strong relationships like St. Louis and Florida. This class speaks highly to the work our staff did and the interest and excitement there is in Coyote football."
 
The Coyotes return 43 of 60 letter winners from last year's squad. Included are nine returning starters on offense and five on defense. The 2017 season opener is Sept. 2 at Drake.
 
An alphabetical listing of all 32 players follows:
 

Name	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Hometown	High School
Sam Ambrogio	OL	6-4	295	St. Charles, Ill.	St. Charles North HS
Kolade Amusan	LB	6-2	205	Woodbury, Minn.	Woodbury HS
William Blaser	OL	6-3	290	Peosta, Iowa	Western Dubuque HS
Darion Bolden	DB	5-10	170	St. Louis, Mo.	Trinity Catholic HS
Kody Case	WR	5-10	165	Lake City, Iowa	South Central Calhoun HS
Luke Chuol	DE	6-3	250	Circle Pines, Minn.	Centennial HS
Tyler Ciurej	OL	6-4	300	Bellevue, Neb.	Bellevue West HS
Jack Clement	OL	6-3	300	Springfield, Ill.	Sacred Heart-Griffin HS
Jack Cochrane	LB	6-3	205	Mount Vernon, Iowa	Mount Vernon HS
Jackson Coker	DL	6-3	270	Cedar Rapids, Iowa	Kennedy HS
Reggie Crawford	WR	6-2	200	St. Louis, Mo.	Chaminade HS
Lincoln Gibbs	RB	5-11	200	Claremont, S.D.	Langford Area HS
Matt Gilray	OL	6-3	290	Burnsville, Minn.	Burnsville HS
Dalton Godfrey	LS	6-1	215	Cedar Falls, Iowa	Cedar Falls HS
Kai Henry	RB	5-8	185	Miami, Fla.	Northwestern HS
Cody Jennings	OL	6-5	290	Kismet, Kan.	Southwestern Heights HS
Alex Jensen	TE	6-7	215	Plymouth, Minn.	Wayzata HS
Jonathan Joanis	DB	6-1	200	Orlando, Fla.	Boone HS
Peter Klug	DL	6-5	255	Overland Park, Kan.	Blue Valley North HS
Nathan Kneifl	TE	6-5	215	Lawton, Iowa	Lawton-Bronson HS
Dominic Long	K/P	5-10	180	Gothenburg, Neb.	Gothenburg HS
Jakob Parks	QB	6-4	200	Clearwater, Fla.	Clearwater Central Catholic HS
Ty Paulsen	OL	6-6	255	Pierre, S.D.	T.F. Riggs HS
John Pempek	DL	6-3	310	Springfield, Ill.	Sacred Heart-Griffin HS
Riley Peters	DE	6-5	210	Vermillion, S.D.	Vermillion HS
Braden Schneider	OL	6-6	270	McLouth, Kan.	Jefferson County North HS
Nathan Schultz	DL	6-4	270	Hartland, Wis.	Arrowhead Union HS
Weston Schultz	LB	6-3	215	Mason City, Iowa	Mason City HS
Cam Seck	OL	6-4	285	Paola, Kan.	Paola HS
Jordan Sommerville	DB	6-0	180	St. Louis, Mo.	Lutheran North HS
Mitch Stanley	DL	6-5	260	Glenwood, Iowa	Glenwood HS
Austin Wallace	OL	6-5	295	Metamora, Ill.	Metamora Township HS