South Dakota 2025 Rankings: Small Town Sleepers

SOUTH DAKOTA-- Not only with your Prep Redzone subscription to you get to learn about some of the Dakotas best football prospects with Prep Redzone Dakotas, but you get to learn about the geography in your state. Growing up, I was always the one checking populations of towns wherever I traveled in the Midwest especially in small town America. Tonight, I take a look at some of the "Small Town Sleepers" across South Dakota that are ranked prospects on our 2025 South Dakota rankings. Although there towns they come from might be small, those small towns sure do produce plenty of talent across the state year after year. The common definition of a small town is 5000 people or under for this content feature, however scouting the Dakotas you can certainly argue that moving that perimeter to 2500 to 3000 people probably gives you the best perspective of what small town really is when it comes to football prospects. Take a look at the six prospects from Dupree to as far south as Burke that cracked our list.   Elliot Bratland, LB, Clark-Willow Lake <a href="https://twitter.com/elliotbratland2">Twitter</a>   Clark, SD: Pop. 1148 Willow Lake, SD: Pop. 255   Elliot is a 5'11 170 pound linebacker that although lacks the prototypical size for the linebacker position, this young man's vision around the ball is intriguing. Whether in the A-gap to the edges of the field, he shows off a good first step that positions himself well for a tackle on a consistent basis. Eliot also shows off his burst when left unblocked, as this kid plays with a competitive motor. His physicality certainly shows off his wrestling background as well. If you are a small school recruiting rural South Dakota and find yourself 45 minutes southwest of Watertown or 1 hour northwest of Brookings, this young man might be worth the trip.   [player_tooltip player_id='800406' first='Braydon' last='Terveen-Smith'], RB, Dupree <a href="http://www.hudl.com/v/2KqxTC">Tape</a>   Dupree, SD: Pop. 494   A West River prospect that popped out to me within our small town sleepers is 5'10 180 pounder [player_tooltip player_id='800406' first='Braydon' last='Terveen-Smith']. Braydon is a running back that plays with a solid work-ethic as a pass-catcher and has the upside with his size to become a productive downhill north-south runner. I also see upside with the vision this young man has, as a RB that shows patience in the backfield waiting for the gaps to develop. This young man shows off much more of his burst the deeper you get into his tape along the outside edges. If you want to see his hands, flip to around the 54 second mark of his sophomore tape as he makes one of the most impressive catches I have seen over the last few months. At 6'0 190 pounds, he projects in my eyes at wide receiver at the next-level. This kid is the definition of a diamond in the rough prospect (couldn't find his Twitter) but if you recruit the West River, he certainly is worth a next-level look.   [player_tooltip player_id='800441' first='Karter' last='Kohlenberg'], RB/ATH, Florence-Henry <a href="https://twitter.com/Kohlenberg4FB">Twitter</a>   Florence, SD: Pop. 337 Henry, SD: Pop. 256   Karter was a prospect that I got my first eyes on at the Augie prospect camp this summer and although not the biggest running back at 5'7 160 pounds, this young man can fly. He has some very swift agility he shows off on tape between the tackles and his upside falls with development of his balance with that speedy footwork. Karter also has grown with his vision since I watched him over the summer as it shows that he certainly sees the game slower with his growth of his football IQ. If you head down Hwy 212 20 minutes outside of Watertown, you will get to see in my eyes, one of NE South Dakota's fastest prospects in the 2025 class has to offer as he also showed off verifiable explosiveness when I saw him at Augustana.   [player_tooltip player_id='800483' first='Gentry' last='Bartling'], ATH, Burke <a href="https://twitter.com/yesumbigdaddy69">Twitter</a>   Burke, SD: Pop 575   Although he has some limited clips to start the 2023 season, the length of Burke athlete [player_tooltip player_id='800483' first='Gentry' last='Bartling'] in my eyes plays way bigger than his 6'0 155 pound frame he shows off. This young man shows off long strides out of the backfield, and also shows more length at defensive end as a DE prospect than you expect with those measurables as he looks like one of the biggest athletes on the field on tape. He also shows the upside of physicality I look for when he makes contact on the ball carrier, as a prospect we will wait to see what 2023 shows off for this young man in the fall season. A West River prospect to track from 35 minutes SE of Winner.   [player_tooltip player_id='1004221' first='Braxton' last='Pravecek'], ATH, Estelline-Hendricks <a href="https://twitter.com/BpPravo">Twitter</a>   Estelline, SD: Pop. 749 Hendricks, MN: Pop. 713   At 6'2, Braxton shows growing skillsets of fluidity on both sides of the ball from this season's tape. He shows off upside with his change of direction as an edge rusher as there is more growth there in my eyes at that position. However, his athleticism pops out in the backfield from his recent tape that's out as this young man runs with good patience and that versatility with his agility pops out offensively. Braxton also shows upside with growing his finish with his running ability, as an athlete in the 2025 class with a great ceiling to rise his stock by next rankings update. Braxton is another from the Watertown area that cracks our small town sleepers.   [player_tooltip player_id='533130' first='Mason' last='Trowbridge'], ATH, Hamlin <a href="https://twitter.com/MasonTrow11">Twitter</a>   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepredzone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/12/46-Mason-Trowbridge-crop-3345x2196-1695862867.jpg?w=800" alt="" class="wp-image-1019976" style="width:357px;height:234px" width="357" height="234" /></figure>   Hayti, SD: Pop. 393   At this point, you might ask the question, what is the water around the Watertown area with this lis as [player_tooltip player_id='533130' first='Mason' last='Trowbridge'] is our next athlete on deck in our Small Town Sleepers. Mason has shown out this year what a slippery runner he is in the backfield as one that works his tail off for every yard with his agility and footwork. Don't let his size fool you, as he is a fearless runner that shows flourish going 1v1 against the defense. At defensive back, Mason is a prospect that shows off elusiveness with his quick trigger out of his stance and shows great awareness coming up to defend the run. I certainly am putting Mason as a projected stockriser by our next 2025 South Dakota rankings update as this young man has really came out on tape with the development of his twitch.

SOUTH DAKOTA-- Not only with your Prep Redzone subscription to you get to learn about some of the Dakotas best football prospects with Prep Redzone Dakotas, but you get to learn about the geography in your state. Growing up, I was always the one checking populations of towns wherever I traveled in the Midwest especially in small town America. Tonight, I take a look at some of the "Small Town Sleepers" across South Dakota that are ranked prospects on our 2025 South Dakota rankings. Although there towns they come from might be small, those small towns sure do produce plenty of talent across the state year after year. The common definition of a small town is 5000 people or under for this content feature, however scouting the Dakotas you can certainly argue that moving that perimeter to 2500 to 3000 people probably gives you the best perspective of what small town really is when it comes to football prospects. Take a look at the six prospects from Dupree to as far south as Burke that cracked our list.