D1 Special Commitment Report: Rudy Voss (Jackson County Central-2020)
The South Dakota State Jackrabbits have been one of the most consistently competitive Division I FCS programs of the past decade, and a lot of this success has been laid on a foundation of good ‘ol Minnesota boys. A lot of…
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Continue ReadingThe South Dakota State Jackrabbits have been one of the most consistently competitive Division I FCS programs of the past decade, and a lot of this success has been laid on a foundation of good ‘ol Minnesota boys. A lot of these recruits, such as Levi Brown, Jake Wieneke, Reece Winkelman, Zach Zenner, and Michael Griffin, were all Minnesota studs that one could argue were “under-recruited” as preps and have given/are giving themselves legitimate chances of playing professional football as Jackrabbits. The latest of these MN preps with sky-high potential is Jackson County Central QB1 Rudy Voss. The 6’3, 195 lb. signal-caller looked like Fran Tarkenton this past fall as he led 3A powerhouse JCC to the state semifinals and had an unbelievable season that led to a litany of awards and his recent commitment to SDSU. He found time between the hectic nature of committing to a college football program, becoming JCC’s all-time leading basketball scorer with 1,550 points, and finishing senior year classes to speak with Northstar Football News about his relationship with SDSU’s throughout this process, what it will feel like to represent Jackson on the big stage, JCC’s exciting 2019 season, and more here with NFN!
NFN: Hello and congratulations on the decision, Rudy! You’ve had an unreal 2019 and the Jackrabbits are getting a beast. Please begin by telling us a little bit about your recruitment process as a whole, and when things began to heat up for you.
Voss: “The recruiting process was fun and forsure a long journey that started around my junior football season. I took a Junior Day visit to SDSU and UND and had a great experience, and then I started to get a lot more basketball looks and had a few offers for that. But it was a lot of fun. I met so many great coaches and more so than just good coaches they were just really good people and cared about me which meant a lot. Things really took a turn the summer going into my senior year when I started to get a lot of looks and after a few camps I started getting lots of D2 offers and a couple D1 looks by SDSU, UND, and UNI.”
NFN: Awesome. The Jackrabbits seemed to come into things late based off Twitter, am I correct in that assumption or were they always in the mix? Also, who else were you considering and made you commit to head to Brookings?
Voss: SDSU was always in the mix. I had been talking to them since September and a little in the summer, and they offered me in early December but I just never tweeted it out. The two schools it came down to was Northern State and SDSU. Northern State has a great coaching staff and great facilities to come. But after my official visit to SDSU I knew that was home for me. It’s always been a dream to play DI football and I had that opportunity and I just felt like I couldn’t let it pass, it’s not to far from home, a lot of support to go there and it’s a family feel which is something that I love about it, and everyone cares about each other.”
NFN: How does it feel coming from a small high school in Minnesota to the big stage of DI football?
Voss: “Coming from a small high school it feels good to represent this part of the start and show people that I can do this.”
NFN: Of course. Now share a little bit about your as well as JCC’s 2019 season!
Voss: “We had a great season coming into this year and I knew we had something special with a lot of seniors and experience. The biggest turning point for us was Week 6 against Blue Earth, they were a great team but we felt like we lost that game but somehow came out with a win and that really showed me and us guys that we have to do more to what we wanted, and that was a state championship. We started rolling again after that, and beat our rival in the section championship (Fairmont) and we were really prepared and dominated that game. We won the following week against a great Waseca team but I ended up hurting my shoulder late in the game and wasn’t able to practice the entire following week when we played in the semis against Pierz. I played through it though and we lost on a last second touchdown which was heartbreaking because we thought we were right there and almost state champions. After that game I knew my time wasn’t up with playing football and I knew I was going to play at the next level, and I’m so thankful for all my brothers on that team as well as the coaches and that’s something I will have with me to the rest of my life.”
NFN: Well said. So you’ll be playing QB at SDSU? What kind of player are they getting?
Voss: “I will be playing QB at SDSU. They will be getting a leader and not only a good athlete, but a great kid that supports his brothers because that’s what I am before anything else. I am super excited for the next 5 years at SDSU and I’m thankful for everyone in my life.”
I know I am not the only one who can agree in saying that Minnesota is behind you all the way, Rudy! Good luck and Go Jackrabbits!