SDSU Sports Information

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

Gronowski, last year’s Walter Payton Award winner as the FCS’s top offensive player, returns for his senior season after throwing for 3,058 yards and 29 touchdowns to just five interceptions in 2023. The Naperville, Illinois, native led the FCS in quarterback rating with a 179.67 and completed 68.1 percent (209 of 307) of his passes.

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

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

The second-team honorees on the Stats Perform preseason team were offensive lineman Gus Miller and punt returner Tucker Large. The 2023 FCS Rimington Award winner as the top center and a Brookings native, Miller played a key role on an offensive line that paved 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 against Drake. Also a starting safety for the Jackrabbits, Large was second on the team with four interceptions and added 49 tackles.

Rounding out the Jackrabbit selection to 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 threw a team-best five interceptions while contributing 29 tackles and two pass breakups.

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

South Dakota State begins fall practice on July 31 and opens the season on August 31 at Oklahoma State.