The question that always seems to be asked after a South Dakota State football season ends is “will there be a Jackrabbit drafted in the NFL Draft?” 

It seems the Jackrabbits' best chance to get a player drafted in this weekend's draft is with a player who decided to change his position after his career at SDSU ended. Mikey Daniel, who played running back for the Jacks for four seasons, decided he would have a better chance to make it at the next level if he transitioned to fullback.

Daniel, a Brookings native, ran for 1,728 yards and 29 touchdowns in his career. He was known as more of a power and goal line back for the Jacks and said the transition to fullback has been pretty painless.

“It’s a little different putting your hand in the dirt, but being an athlete I feel like I can adjust and make anything happen. I think I have more strengths making the transition because it will set me up to make better blocks. I know as a running back where I would expect my fullback to block for me. So it just kind of makes it easier for me to know that and to leverage that,” Daniel said.

Daniel moved to Bradenton, Florida, after the season ended and spent 10 weeks training at IMG Academy. IMG Academy is a prep high school where Daniel played his junior year of high school. Daniel worked in a program with a lot of draft hopefuls ran by his trainer Mo Wells.

He ran his pro day down in Florida as well. Usually SDSU players run their pro day in Brookings, but due to the coronavirus they canceled it, so Daniel decided to run it in Florida. 

“I tested out at the top of every board in the fullback category statistically. I had a 4.6 second (40-yard dash), 37-inch vertical, 10-foot broad jump, 4.09 second pro agility drill and 27 reps on the bench press at 225 pounds. All-in-all it was a really great day for me,” Daniel said. 

Pro scouts usually attend pro days, but because of coronavirus they were unable to attend. Instead, Daniel recorded all of his drills and sent them to every team. Daniel said having pro scouts not see him in person hurt a little bit, but he still thinks he impressed some of them.

“All the teams were really excited about the numbers I put up,” Daniel said. “It’s a huge difference for them to physically work me out and for them to have to see a video. But everybody is in the same boat and everybody had to go through that.”

Daniel said he has talked to the Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs so far. He said most of the interviews and conversations he’s had with these teams do not involve questions about football.

“They ask about draft day numbers, my family. Asking multiple questions. Very rarely is it about football. They ask some questions about it, but for the most part they’re just trying to build a relationship and get to know me and know my background a little bit better,” Daniel said. 

There have been a total of 12 fullbacks drafted in the last five drafts. Only one of them was drafted before the fifth round and that was Jalston Fowler who was picked in the fourth round by the Tennessee Titans in 2015. Only 14 of the 32 NFL teams have a fullback signed to multi-year contract on their roster.

Daniel is hoping to get drafted, but is also bracing for the chance of being a priority free agent. A priority free agent is someone who was not drafted and is signed right after the draft ends. The team that signs them is usually planning that they will compete for a position. 

Every undrafted free agent signs a three-year contract with the team they sign with. Sixth and seventh round draft picks sign four-year contracts that also include a signing bonus. Daniel said he is feeling confident that one the teams he talked with will find a spot for him.

“I’m definitely listed higher than just an invite guy. At the very minimum I’ll be a [preferred free agent]. … The guys that are drafted will see a little bit more money up front right away. The draft is unpredictable. I had that conversation with my agent. Either way I’m going to be on a squad,” Daniel said.

SDSU has had one player drafted in the each of the past two drafts. The Jacks had their second-highest draft pick ever in 2018 when tight end Dallas Goedert went in the second round to the Philadelphia Eagles. Goedert has had a successful two seasons with the Eagles catching 91 passes for 941 yards and nine touchdowns.

Fromer SDSU cornerback Jordan Brown was picked in the seventh round by the Cincinnati Bengals last year. He was unable to make the team, but played on their practice squad and finished the season on the Oakland Raiders practice squad.

NFL draft sites have Daniel all over the place as far as rankings for fullback prospects. It will most likely come down to fit and team needs. Daniel said if he is not drafted he knows a couple places where he wants to go.

“If I don’t get drafted, I get to decide between the teams that want me where I want to go with best fit and stuff like that. I talked about that with my agent recently and so we have a good head start on that going into the draft. Hopefully somebody just makes a decision for us in the draft. … I feel comfortable about a couple [teams] and I’m excited to see what happens this week,” Daniel said.

The first round of the NFL Draft is Thursday beginning at 7 p.m. Rounds 2-3 are on Friday starting at 6 p.m., and rounds 4-7 are on Saturday starting at 11 a.m. All of these rounds can be viewed on ABC, ESPN or NFL Network.