BROOKINGS — The South Dakota State football team had its spring game on Saturday at the Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex and the defense came away with a 24-16 victory.

The game was just two quarters and the scoring was different from a regular game. The defense was awarded three points if it forced a three and out and six points if it forced a turnover. The offense scoring was normal.

New head coach Dan Jackson said he got out of the game what he wanted on Saturday.

“We were trying to give some guys who haven’t played some opportunities. … I think our confidence is pretty high [after today]. This is just such a unique thing because this really isn’t a game. For us, we just needed another opportunity to practice. In terms of numbers, if this was an actual game, it would have been a really short game. … I think the guys have a strong belief and we’re going to carry this into the summer. We have a lot of work to do but we’re right on track,” Jackson said.

New starting quarterback Chase Mason had an up and down day. He connected on a couple of long passes but also missed on some short ones. He threw an interception at the goal line to Jalen Lee during a two-minute drill, but then followed that with a touchdown drive. The touchdown was a one-handed catch from redshirt freshman Sammy Dresie.

Jackson said he liked the way Mason took care of the football up until that interception, which was a theme of Mason’s during spring practices.

“I really like how Chase threw the deep ball. He didn’t get a ton of those, but at the end of the day we have to run under those. We’ll have some speed out there for him [this fall] and make some plays. I liked to see how Chase operated. He took care of the football. He’s only had one turnover in the last 10 practices, so I’m pretty proud of the way he’s played,” Jackson said.

The running back room saw a complete overhaul for the Jackrabbits this offseason. Amar Johnson graduated and Angel Johnson, Kirby Vorhees and Maxwell Woods followed former head coach Jimmy Rogers to Washington State. 

Brendan Begeman was the only SDSU running back to stay after Jackson took over. He is one of just two running backs on the spring roster for the Jacks, the other being Wisconsin transfer Nate White. Jackson said he was impressed with the way those two ran the ball on Saturday.

“Nate White ran really hard. Begeman is a really physical guy. He’s gotten so much better,” Jackson said.

The highlight of the day for the defense was a pick six from Dontay Johnson. Johnson intercepted redshirt freshman Jack Henry around the 20 yard line and took it to the house.

“Dontay Johnson has had a great spring, so for him to get an interception for a touchdown in front of some fans was big,” Jackson said.

The spring game concluded spring practices for the Jackrabbits. Jackson said it was a unique spring because there’s a lot of new faces and a totally different coaching staff.

“The first two weeks of spring [practices] the offense had a really hard time moving the ball because everything was new for them and very little was new for the defense. Then later in the spring we put in some new things for the defense and started tweaking some things and the offense started clicking. So, it was interesting to see the back-and-forth from the guys. We even built in some breaks for the guys during practices and we were feeding them more. It was just a unique spring that we thrived at. We didn’t just get through it, we thrived at it and we’re where we need to be,” Jackson said.

The transfer portal will open up again for college football on April 16 and closes on April 25. This will allow players to transfer after spring practices if they feel like they aren’t going to get the opportunity they want at their current school next season. 

Jackson said SDSU is going to look into the portal to both add depth at positions, but then also add talented players that he believes can make a huge impact next season.

“[We’d like to bring in] eight to 12 [transfers],” Jackson said. “We’ll see how that works out. I feel really good about where we’re at from that standpoint. The unique thing about South Dakota State is there are some really good players that want to come here. This isn’t just taking anybody’s leftovers. We’re going to add some special players. 

“There’s certainly some positions that we need some more depth at. I think our defensive line is really talented but we need some more pieces there because we like to sub. We’re not going to go into the fall with just two running backs. There’s also going to be some high profile guys that we take just because they’re good players that I think could be All-American players for us.”

The Jacks will open the 2025 season in Brookings against Sacramento State on Aug. 30. Fall practices will begin four weeks before the season opener.