BROOKINGS — South Dakota State said goodbye to virtually all of their running backs after last season, with Amar Johnson graduating (he's now on the practice squad of the NFL's L.A. Chargers) and Angel Johnson, Kirby Vorhees and Maxwell Woods all following former coach Jimmy Rogers to Washington State.
That left only sophomore Brendan Begeman, so new coach Dan Jackson had to restock the room with capable rushers.
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And in the first game of the 2025 season, the new group looked just fine, rushing for 240 yards in the Jackrabbits' 20-3 win over Sacramento State.
The highlight was grad senior Julius Loughridge, who came to SDSU with an impressive pedigree (over 3,000 career yards at Fordham) and delivered the best debut by a Jacks' running back in the D1 era. Loughridge carried 22 times for 159 yards, an average of 7.2 yards per carry with a long of 37. He was effective to the outside and between the tackles, showed enough burst to outrun linebackers and the toughness to extend plays by forcing the defense to use multiple tacklers to bring him down. He was named Valley offensive newcomer of the week for his efforts.
But it wasn't just Loughridge. Freshman James Basinger had 21 yards on five carries and quarterback Chase Mason had 70 yards in positive rushes, though seven sacks took away 40 of those and Mason was credited with 30 net yards. Subtract the sacks from SDSU's rushing totals (in the NFL sacks count against pass yardage), plus 15 yards lost on a botched shotgun snap, and the Jacks would have finished the game with 295 rushing yards on 48 attempts, a 6.2 average per carry.
083025 SDSU Sac State O'Groske screen.JPG
South Dakota State's Lofton O'Groske follows the blocks of Nate Adams, left, and Shane Willenbring during a college football game on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025 at Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings.
Marcus Traxler / Mitchell Republic
Jackson had indicated during training camp that the offense would also look to involve their receivers and other athletes in the run game and they made good on that, too, with top receiver Lofton O'Groske carrying three times for 31 yards and wideout/kick returner Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda rushing once for eight yards.
Of course, the Jacks had planned on going into this season with Loughridge sharing carries with Wisconsin transfer Nate White, who died just weeks before camp started. White was on his teammates mind, and the final score ended up being a tribute to him. White wore No. 20 at Wisconsin and No. 3 for SDSU - the Jacks won the game 20-3.
* Angel Johnson rushed for -4 yards on 10 carries in Washington State's 13-10 win over Idaho. Vorhees had 19 yards on six carries and Woods did not play.
* For all the hype surrounding Sac State's many FBS transfers, the Jacks had a few who contributed on Saturday. Former Nebraska wide receiver Alex Bullock led the Jacks with six catches, while Garcia-Castaneda, also a former Husker, had one catch for 14 yards in addition to his rushing attempt, and also returned a kickoff 25 yards. He did fumble a punt return that led to the Hornets' three points.
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Safety Koby Bretz, another Nebraska transfer, had two tackles, while former Buffalo cornerback Jayden Oliver had a tackle and an interception.
* In addition to Bullock and O'Groske (five catches), tight end Greyton Gannon and senior wide receiver Grahm Goering each had two catches. Redshirt freshman Jack Smith saw action at wide receiver and had two tackles on special teams.
* The Jacks started the game with two tight ends (Gannon and Brayden Delahoyde), while David Alpers also saw action. Andrew Gustad contributed in an H-back role (scoring the game's first touchdown) and former Dakota Wesleyan tackle John Pica saw several snaps as a blocking tight end.
* Eli Stader, the late addition at kicker, went 2-for-4 on field goals, connecting from 22 and 28 yards and missing from 37 and 48. New punter Max Pelham showed good hang time on kicks of 45 and 38 yards, neither of which was returned. Freshman Ryan Harrington handled kickoffs.
* Cullen McShane led the Jacks with seven tackles. SDSU only had 29 tackles for the game as a team. That can happen when you hold your opponent to seven first downs.
Matt Zimmer
By Matt Zimmer
Matt Zimmer is a Sioux Falls native and longtime sports writer. He graduated from Washington High School where he played football, legion baseball and developed his lifelong love of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. After graduating from St. Cloud State University, he returned to Sioux Falls, and began a long career in amateur baseball and sports reporting. Email Matt at mzimmer@siouxfallslive.com.