Stat Line: 25 carries, 352 rushing yards, four touchdowns.

Erik is a running back you have heard about already this fall on our South Dakota Big Dogs of the Week, well after his performance last week he gets his his second nod of the 2023 season as he rallied for a mega stat line against Waverly-South Shore. The most impressive play is the first one you see on tape as Erik extends majorly for a receiving touchdown that showed off how much stretch he has in his body as he extended heavily for that touchdown. Erik might have shown this week he is one of South Dakota’s most durable backs thru contact, as ALL college coaches need to watch his second run on tape this week as Erik showed how much of workhorse he is that went for 350+ yards last week for the 9B state champs along with four touchdowns. Tape  rn 

Stat Line: 10 rushes, 125 rushing yards (12.5 per carry). Erik also led the Patriots in Week 0 for solo tackles with seven tackles.

The 9B South Dakota Player of the Year nominee had an outstanding game #1 of the 2023 season on both sides of the ball where he has been a consistent leader for Hitchcock-Tulare over the last couple of the seasons. Erik’s running ability comes away with plenty of fluidity that is built to last thru contact and uses his vision well as one of his top skillsets in these eyes. I also love the instinct Erik shows off at linebacker as that might likely be his next level fit as he has an constant instinctive first step that has some leverage especially within the inside box at middle linebacker.

The top vote-getter in our South Dakota 9B Preseason Player of the Year Poll with 5,463 votes is Hitchcock-Tulare 2024 running back/linebacker Erik Salmen Erik Salmen 6'0" | 200 lbs | RB Hitchcock-Tulare | 2024 State SD . At a sizable 6’0 208 pounds Erik is the most effective prospect on this list by far with his durability running thru contact as that shows off consistently within his tape within the first few clips as he gets plenty of yards after contact. Erik also carries well-balanced vision as an east-west runner when he gets downhill as he can make small lanes look enormous when you throw on his tape as this kid is a workhorse in the backfield. Not many prospects have the durable frame at the 9B level to drag dozens of defenders on tape like Erik does within his first minute, as it’s no surprise to me why he was the favorite amongst the fan vote as I also was intrigued with Erik as a linebacker in the state championship game last year, as a linebacker that is highly physical upon contact. Erik also holds one offer from Black Hills State. Twitter