BROOKINGS – Six award-winning South Dakota State football players have been selected as team captains for the upcoming 2017 season.

Leading the list are returning captains Jacob Ohnesorge and Brady Mengarelli. A senior center and three-year starter, Ohnesorge will be the second Jackrabbit player in program history to serve as a team captain for three seasons, joining Austin Sumner (2012-14). A native of Waunakee, Wis, Ohnesorge was a first-team all-Missouri Valley Football Conference selection in 2016 and earned a spot on the HERO Sports FCS All-America Third Team.

Mengarelli, a senior running back from Prescott, Ariz., earned a captain's role for the second year in a row. He was a second-team all-MVFC selection in 2016 after rushing for a team-best 754 yards, while adding another 333 yards on 34 receptions. He also returned 26 kickoffs for 556 yards.

The four other Jackrabbits selected as team captains for the 2017 campaign, including seniors Dallas Goedert and Jake Wieneke, will be in their first seasons in their leadership roles.

Goedert, a tight end from Britton, was a unanimous All-America honoree in 2016 after setting a Jackrabbit single-season record and tying the Missouri Valley Football Conference mark with 92 receptions. He also ranked second on the squad with 1,293 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns.

Wieneke, a wide receiver from Maple Grove, Minn., has been a three-time All-America selection and already holds Jackrabbit and MVFC career records for receiving yards (4,192) and receiving touchdowns (43). In 2016, he tallied 78 receptions for 1,316 yards and tied his own single-season mark of 16 touchdowns.

Rounding out the list of captains are junior quarterback Taryn Christion and sophomore linebacker Christian Rozeboom.

A Sioux Falls native, Christion set or tied 11 school records last season, including single-season marks for completions (279), passing yards (3,714), passing touchdowns (30) and total offense (4,049 yards), en route to being named MVFC Offensive Player of the Year. He also earned third-team All-America accolades from STATS and HERO Sports.

Christion, Goedert and Wieneke were all finalists for the 2016 STATS FCS Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Rozeboom emerged as one of the top young players in the nation in 2016, finishing as runner-up for the STATS FCS Jerry Rice Award as the subdivision's top freshman. The Sioux Center, Iowa, native recorded a team-best 132 tackles, while being named to the all-MVFC First Team and earning MVFC Freshman of the Year honors.

South Dakota State is halfway through its spring season and will wrap up offseason workouts with the annual Spring Game on April 22. Start time is set for 10 a.m. at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

The Jackrabbits, who have made five consecutive appearances in the FCS playoffs, will report to fall camp in early August and are set to kick off the 2017 season Aug. 31 by playing host to Duquesne.