SMSU Prospect Camp: South Dakota Standouts+MVP

We continued our first week of college camps in the busy recruiting month of June and made our second camp stop of the week at the SMSU Prospect Camp in Marshall, Minnesota for the day. Our notepad was loaded with notes on players from four different states, but we start our camp coverage at SMSU with the South Dakota standouts from camp and my selection for South Dakota MVP, which I will continue to dish out at camps this summer that feature a lot of football talent in the Mount Rushmore State.    A 2028 name that is on our South Dakota watchlist that we saw at the SMSU Prospect Camp today in Marshall, is linebacker Carsen Wiesner from Deuel. This was the first live look from us on Carsen and he showed off as a linebacker that has a lot of upside at the linebacker position. I felt from the start of camp to the end of camp this afternoon, this young man untapped some of that upside from an athletic standpoint. In the later reps of camp, I felt Carsen was more open-hipped with his change of direction than what I saw in the testing period. That's a good start, as this incoming junior linebacker for the Cardinals is one that has a good shot to grow his progression into this upcoming season.     One of the best defensive tackles I saw in attendance today in Marshall, was Harrisburg 2027 [player_tooltip player_id='2092854' first='Cooper' last='Hodge']. Cooper boosted some of the quickest hands off the snap I saw in the defensive line group. It was his proficency he showed during the 1v1 reps that caught the bulk of my attention, as Cooper showed off brick-like hands with his strength that could draw offensive linemen off balance early as Cooper was also in tune with his pad-level. Cooper also impressed me with his ability to recover on reps, and his ability to finish reps with the skillsets I mentioned showed off the football IQ and the blue-collar work ethic you want in your defensive trenches.     <a href="https://x.com/keyvin_strand" id="https://x.com/keyvin_strand">TWITTER</a>   One 2027 out of South Dakota that needs to move up my board after his live eval today is Canton linebacker [player_tooltip player_id='2106045' first='Keyvin' last='Strand']. The 1v1s I watched at the SMSU Prospect Camp, showed the pure instincts especially with his footwork and vision that Keyvin has for the linebacker position especially when he gets to the outside edges as his his strides to the ball carrier that showed off a more sideline to sideline linebacker than what the tape might show. High motored 2027 linebacker that showed today that he can play linebacker on Saturdays. All-Stater and All-Conference linebacker as a junior for the C-Hawks.    South Dakota MVP    My vote for South Dakota MVP at the SMSU Prospect Camp would go to Brandon Valley 2027 quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1300019' first='Will' last='VanLeur'] who walked out of Marshall today with an offer from the Mustangs. He was one of the top testers just about across the board in most of testing categories that I got to watch as his overall athleticism from the jump during the testing period, was on display. He was also one of the most mechanically sound quarterbacks I saw in attendance this afternoon as Will was very proficent with his release and ball placement. He showed up close in the live eval that he could make throws on all three levels as the 6'3 190 pounder was the most proficent South Dakota prospect in attendance at the SMSU Prospect Camp.

We continued our first week of college camps in the busy recruiting month of June and made our second camp stop of the week at the SMSU Prospect Camp in Marshall, Minnesota for the day. Our notepad was loaded with notes on players from four different states, but we start our camp coverage at SMSU with the South Dakota standouts from camp and my selection for South Dakota MVP, which I will continue to dish out at camps this summer that feature a lot of football talent in the Mount Rushmore State.