CHICAGO — Two-time defending Football Championship Subdivision champion South Dakota State is well-represented on the 2024 Stats Perform FCS Preseason All-America Team with six selections. The honor squad was announced Monday and includes first-team selections Mark Gronowski and Adam Bock from the Jackrabbits.

Gronowski, the reigning Walter Payton Award winner as the top offensive player in the FCS ranks a year ago, returns for his senior season after throwing for 3,058 yards and 29 touchdown against only five interceptions in 2023. The Naperville, Illinois, native led the FCS in quarterback rating at 179.67 while completing 68.1 percent(209-of-307) of his passes.

In addition, Gronowski ran for 402 yards and eight touchdowns in helping lead the Jackrabbits to a 15-0 record in 2023 and extend the program’s winning streak to 29 games.

Bock, a senior linebacker from Solon, Iowa, ranked third on the team last season with 65 tackles despite missing five games due to injury. A two-time first-team all-Missouri Valley Football Conference selection and a second-team All-America honoree in 2021, Bock has tallied more than 300 career tackles.

Receiving second-team honors on the Stats Perform preseason squad were offensive lineman Gus Miller and punt returner Tucker Large. The FCS winner of the 2023 Rimington Award as the top center and a Brookings native, Miller played a key role within an offensive line that helped pave the way for the Jackrabbits to average 37.3 points and 449.9 yards of total offense per fame.

Large, a junior from Sioux Falls, averaged 18.9 yards per punt return attempt last season and set an SDSU single-game record with 159 yards versus Drake. Also a starting safety for the Jackrabbits, Large ranked second on the team with four interceptions and added 49 tackles.

Rounding out the Jackrabbit contingent on the Stats Perform FCS Preseason All-America Team were third-team honorees Dalys Beanum and Amar Johnson. Beanum, a senior cornerback from Omaha, is coming off a 2023 campaign in which he recorded a team-best five interceptions while also contributing 29 tackles and two pass breakups.

Johnson made the squad as an all-purpose back after ranking second on the team in 2023 with 1,205 all-purpose yards (80.3 ypg). A senior from O’Fallon, Missouri, Johnson finished second on the squad with 801 rushing yards, averaging 6.3 yards per carry, while also tallying 282 yards on kickoff returns (23.5 yards per attempt) and carthing 12 passes for 122 yards.

South Dakota State begins fall practices July 31 and opens the season Aug. 31 at Oklahoma State.