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FULL SHOW: Chase Mason on why he is staying at SDSU instead of taking big FBS money, and reaction to DeBoer staying at Alabama and USD's season-ending loss at Montana
Chase Mason will not be bought by another college football team. Not for over $1 million, which his coach Dan Jackson told Sioux Falls Live is what he believes at least one Power Four conference school offered him "long ago." Not even after Mason's predecessor at SDSU, Div. I football's all-time wins leader Mark Gronowski, took that kind of reported money at Iowa and led the Hawkeyes to an 8-4 record and some memorable wins in front of over 70,000 fans and millions of national television viewers. Mason shocked some in FCS circles on Monday by telling Sioux Falls Live he will not entertain any more offers and will not enter the transfer portal, which will be open from Jan. 2 to Jan. 16 for players wishing to make themselves eligible to play at a different school. In an over-hour-long conversation on Monday's Happy Hour with John Gaskins that included never-before-public details about his foot injury that kept him sidelined for five games, Mason smiled when host John Gaskins mentioned one conspiracy theory thrown out on social media during that absence. The theory? That Mason was sitting out the rest of the season just so his already-soaring, six-or-seven-figure NIL stock wouldn't plummet in the case of him reaggravating the sprain. "Never in a million years," Mason said. "I'll be at South Dakota State, so..." Mason laughed, then continued. His explanation of potentially turning down a million dollars or more was a broad view of the sport he plays. "I'm not really big into big checks and money. If you look around the landscape of college football, it just has changed totally. Guys are going away from loving college football, and there's never one time when I wanted to play college football to make the most amount of money. Like, I never thought about that in my life. "When I write down goals for myself, never one time was it, like, 'I want to make as much money as I can in college football.' It was always, 'I want to play at the Division One level, at this level, lead the team, be as good as I possibly can be as a person and as an athlete here.'" Was there any part of watching Gronowski making big plays in front of millions of TV for an estimated $1 million to $2 million (depending on which "insider" you ask) that allured Mason to the bright lights of the Power Four? "Two million dollars seems cool, but half of that is going to Uncle Sam right away," Mason said. "I feel that playing here gives you just as much of an opportunity at the NFL. That long-term money is more valuable to me than a million dollars or two million dollars right now." Mason said NFL scouts have told Jackson and SDSU trainer Charlie Miller that Mason should stay at SDSU, that transferring to play at a higher level wouldn't make much difference in his draft stock. "They view us as just as good as some of those other schools," Mason said. "If you perform and you're playing well at a high FCS school like us and NDSU, Montana and Montana State — people like that — they have just as much respect for us as some of those other schools. "It's pretty much a no-brainer. We've produced NFL talent. It's not hard to find — guys that come from here." Two former Jackrabbits from the last decade are considered two of the best tight ends in the NFL. The Eagles' Dallas Goedert was a second round draft pick in 2018. Tucker Kraft was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the third round. Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Mason McCormick was taken in the fourth round. Several other ex-Jacks have been on NFL rosters or were at least invited to training camps. Mason said he stays in regular contact with Kraft and sees McCormick visiting SDSU's facilities whenever he gets the chance. "It just shows you how special and connected the brotherhood is here," Mason said. "People are always trying to find ways to help the program after they leave, which is super cool." Goedert, Kraft, and McCormick are all South Dakota natives. The former two, like Mason, are from small, rural South Dakota communities. The Hurley native, who led Viborg-Hurley to the Class 9AA state title in 2019 as a junior, transferred to SDSU in January 2022 after spending his first collegiate semester as a member of the baseball team at the University of Nebraska. A few days prior to committing to the Huskers, Mason had been offered a scholarship to play quarterback at FBS Fresno State, which was then coached by current Alabama coach and Milbank native Kalen DeBoer. A pitcher, Mason threw a 94 miles per hour fastball and at one point in June 2021 was ranked in the top 250 of Major League Baseball's top draft prospects, thanks to his "big league body" with "big league quality raw power, speed and arm strength," according to the MLB scouting report, which went on to say that his floor could be a 25 home run and 25 stolen base player. "I never came back to play college football from baseball because of money," Mason said. "It was because I loved the game of football." Mason redshirted for the Jackrabbits in 2022, then was Gronowski's backup in 2023 and 2024, occasionally coming in as a "wildcat" quarterback used primarily to run the ball. Those first two teams won the national championship. Last year's squad fell one game short of playing for a three-peat. After Gronowski left to take his hefty NIL deal with the Hawkeyes, Mason emerged as the starter and carried plenty of hype into the 2025 season. He led SDSU to a 7-0 start before suffering a foot injury — a "mid-foot sprain," as he revealed Monday — on the first drive at Murray State. Mason would not return to the field until six games later in the Jacks' 41-3 first round playoff win over New Hampshire, where he completed 16 of 20 passes for three touchdowns in snow and high winds, prompting then-New Hampshire coach Ricky Santos to call him a first round NFL talent. In the Jackrabbits' second round playoff game at Montana, Mason threw a 95-yard touchdown pass on SDSU's second drive, but the No. 3 Grizzlies eventually pulled away for a 50-29 win to end the Jacks' season at 9-5. SDSU posted an 8-1 record and averaged 34 points per game in Mason's starts and went 1-4 while averaging 18 points per game in his absence. The one win was a 34-31 overtime thriller at North Dakota in the regular season finale, a game widely believed to be a must-win for the Jacks to seize an at-large berth into the playoffs. Mason said that while his entire time away from the field was frustrating, he relished in helping the two quarterbacks who took his place, Luke Marble and Jack Henry. Henry started at UND and struggled in the first half, when SDSU trailed 17-7. Mason sat down with Henry, looked at plays from the first half on an iPad, and explained what the Fighting Hawks defense had done to rattle him and how to correct it. After that, Henry threw a pair of long touchdown passes, including a 23-yard strike to Graham Goehring in overtime that cemented both a playoff berth and one of the all-time legendary finishes in SDSU history. "He went out there and played an awesome second half," Mason said. "It was just awesome to see what happened at the end and it was ridiculous and it was awesome." On Monday, Mason described the euphoric scene in the Jacks locker room, a jubilant unleashing of emotion from a month full of losing during which Mason said the team's chemistry never unglued. It was those kind of moments that Mason wants to continue to be a part of at SDSU for his final season of eligibility in 2026. Yes, he has an NIL deal at SDSU, but he knows he is leaving plenty of money on the table. But he won't leave Brookings. "We live in a click bait world," Mason said of the temptations of what he could be turning down. "It seems super cool from the outside, but having to go somewhere where you don't know any of the guys on the team, learning a whole new offense, and the culture isn't ever going to be anything like it is at South Dakota State —" Mason interrupted himself to mention that every FBS transfer that has joined the Jacks during his time has said the culture is better at SDSU than their previous school. "That means more to me than anything else — the guys in the brotherhood that we have here, because, when football is done, you're not going to have anything else that's going to relate you to that besides the guys that you played with. So I think that's what is super cool about South Dakota State and the JFPA. It just keeps us all connected, and that's what you're going to have after football, and I value that more than a one-year thing where you're not really guaranteed anything." This devotion to SDSU goes all the way back to this past December in the days after head coach Jimmy Rogers left for Washington State and convinced 15 SDSU players and several recruits to come with him, including Mason's high school teammate Angel Johnson, a running back. Mason confirmed Rogers tried to lure Mason to WSU. Mason not only turned Rogers down, but personally worked with offensive lineman Quinten Christensen to convince as many SDSU teammates and recruits as possible to stay in Brookings and play for Jackson, who was named as Rogers' replacement within three days. Rogers left WSU after one season for Iowa State on Dec. 5. College football coaches are not supposed to contact possible transfers until they have entered the portal, which does not open until Jan. 2. Few would blame Rogers and the Cyclone staff for attempting to lure Mason to Ames to become the second Jackrabbit quarterback in as many seasons to start for a Power Four team in Iowa. Has Mason heard from Rogers, or does he expect to hear from him? "He knows better," Mason said Monday.
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1:55:39
Mason staying at SDSU, DeBoer staying at Alabama, a salute to USD & Aidan Bouman, and McCarthy's big night in Dallas means what?
In Monday's "John-o-logue," host John Gaskins reacts to the news Chase Mason broke on today's show — that he is staying at SDSU and will not enter the transfer portal despite agents telling those close to him he could make $1 million or more in NIL offers at FBS schools. Also, reaction to Kalen DeBoer confirming he is staying at Alabama, squashing any momentum of the reports of his candidacy at Michigan. USD's season ended on Saturday in a 52-22 loss at Montana in the quarterfinals. What do we make of Travis Johansen's first season as head coach and Aidan Bouman's final season of college football? And what do we make of J.J. McCarthy dicing up the Dallas Cowboys in the Minnesota Vikings' 34-26 win?
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Chase Mason on foot injury, SDSU's roller coaster season, and why he is staying at SDSU
Chase Mason on foot injury, SDSU's roller coaster season, and why he is staying at SDSU
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1:08:22
FULL SHOW: Chris Streveler (USD legend), Thirsty Thursday Yotes-Griz forecast, Nate Kaeding previews metro HS Hoops season
The swashbuckling, clutch playmaking. The larger-than-life personality. The fur coat with bare skin underneath in the sub-zero temperatures in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' CFL title parade. There is only one Chris Streveler, and the South Dakota Coyotes enjoyed the spoils of Strevy in the program's first winning season in Div. I, first FCS Playoffs appearance, and first D1 postseason win during his record-smashing senior season of 2017. The Chicagoland native's two-year USD career ended in a blaze of glory as threw for 520 yards and five touchdown passes — adding 52 rushing yards and a running score — in a wild comeback that fell short in a 1300-yard, shootout-for-the-ages 54-42 loss at Sam Houston State in the Round of 16. Streveler has vivid memories of that game and others from his indelible USD career in a 45-minute interview with Happy Hour host John Gaskins. He also regales with stories of his recruitment to Vermillion from the University of Minnesota, where he had switched to play wide receiver after losing battles to be the Gophers' starter. What were his first impressions of program builder Bob Nielson and the DakotaDome? And what are his impressions of the program — particularly current quarterback Aidan Bouman — eight years later under Travis Johansen, with a surging squad that has reached the quarterfinals for the third consecutive season? And then, there was that victory parade in Winnipeg that made Streveler an even bigger legend both in Canada and South Dakota. What led to his hypothermic fashion choice? And what marching order did he and teammates ignore (well, miss) to ensure an epic celebration? You'll get the fully Strevy, and you'll like it. Even if you're not a Coyote fan. Well... Jackrabbit fans may not love his memories of a 31-28 loss to SDSU that senior season. Before Streveler, enjoy an hour-long preview of Saturday's USD-Montana playoff game in Missoula from Trent Singer — who will be there — and Gaskins from the Orion Pub in downtown Sioux Falls. If you're a local high school basketball fan, stick around for a season preview — teams and players to watch — from Midwest Sports Plus analyst, former D1 and D2 assistant coach, and Sanford Sports Academy basketball coordinator Nate Kaeding. The Midwest Sports Plus season full of live prep hoops on the MS+ app starts Friday at 5:30 with a doubleheader between city rivals Jefferson and Roosevelt.
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2:23:22
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2:23:22
Chris Streveler looks back on wild, pioneering USD career & has thoughts on Bouman and the 2025 Coyotes
The swashbuckling, clutch playmaking. The larger-than-life personality. The fur coat with bare skin underneath in the sub-zero temperatures in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' CFL title parade. There is only one Chris Streveler, and the South Dakota Coyotes enjoyed the spoils of Strevy in the program's first winning season in Div. I, first FCS Playoffs appearance, and first D1 postseason win during his record-smashing senior season of 2017. The Chicagoland native's two-year USD career ended in a blaze of glory as threw for 520 yards and five touchdown passes — adding 52 rushing yards and a running score — in a wild comeback that fell short in a 1300-yard, shootout-for-the-ages 54-42 loss at Sam Houston State in the Round of 16. Streveler has vivid memories of that game and others from his indelible USD career in a 45-minute interview with Happy Hour host John Gaskins. He also regales with stories of his recruitment to Vermillion from the University of Minnesota, where he had switched to play wide receiver after losing battles to be the Gophers' starter. What were his first impressions of program builder Bob Nielson and the DakotaDome? And what are his impressions of the program — particularly current quarterback Aidan Bouman — eight years later under Travis Johansen, with a surging squad that has reached the quarterfinals for the third consecutive season? And then, there was that victory parade in Winnipeg that made Streveler an even bigger legend both in Canada and South Dakota. What led to his hypothermic fashion choice? And what marching order did he and teammates ignore (well, miss) to ensure an epic celebration? You'll get the fully Strevy, and you'll like it. Even if you're not a Coyote fan. Well... Jackrabbit fans may not love his memories of a 31-28 loss to SDSU that senior season.
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