Happy Hour with John Gaskins

Now that the dust has settled on the 2025 FCS season — and now some of the air has cleared on top FCS players coming back or jumping in the portal — how are things looking for 2026?   Will South Dakota State, with Power Four prospects Chase Mason and Quinten Christensen poised to stay and lead in Brookings, bounce back into national championship contention?   Should South Dakota — having lost quarterback Aidan Bouman (eligibility), All-America running back L.J. Phillips (visiting Iowa this week), receiver Larenzon Fenner (committed to Cincinnati), and defensive lineman Caden Crawford (committed to Iowa State) — be trusted again to replace its best players and remain a Top 10 team?   What about national champion Montana State, blue bloods North Dakota State and Montana, and runner-up Illinois State?   If only someone who has covered the FCS full-time for a decade can answer those questions and tackle the extremely nuanced and messy advantages and pitfalls of the mad, mad, wild west portal world.   That man is Sam Herder, the senior FCS analyst for HERO Sports, and he is one of the two guests on Thursday's "Happy Hour with John Gaskins."   The other is former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Ben Leber, who is now an insider and sideline analyst for the Vikings Audio (Radio) Network. Few Vikings media have more access or can understand football situations — on the field and in the locker room — like Leber.   We spent nearly a half-hour with the former Vermillion Tanager and South Dakota Sports Hall of Famer. Topics:   * The Vikings legacy of C.J. Ham, the Augustana alumnus who likely played his last NFL game on Sunday * The good, bad, ugly, and improvable of quarterback J.J. McCarthy and who the Vikings need to surround him with at QB in the offseason — perhaps just keep former NDSU Bison Carson Wentz around?   * The possibility of highly-coveted defensive coordinator Brian Flores remaining in Minneapolis, and who the Vikings should pursue to replace him if he leaves   * The impact of former USD and Rock Valley linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel   Before Herder and Leber, Happy Hour opens from its usual Thursday haunt, Orion Pub in downtown Sioux Falls, with another Thirsty Thursday chat with Sioux Falls Live sportswriter Trent Singer.   There are plenty of palpable local sports topics to wash down with Trent's Miller High Life, including:   * Recent portal news * Early Summit League & NSIC hoops * High school hoops * College Football and NFL playoffs predictions * When it is too late to say "Happy New Year!" 

Happy Hour opens from its usual Thursday haunt, Orion Pub in downtown Sioux Falls, with another Thirsty Thursday chat with Sioux Falls Live sportswriter Trent Singer.   There are plenty of palpable local sports topics to wash down with Trent's Miller High Life, including:   * Early Summit League & NSIC hoops * High school hoops * College Football and NFL playoffs predictions * When it is too late to say "Happy New Year!" 

Now that the dust has settled on the 2025 FCS season — and now some of the air has cleared on top FCS players coming back or jumping in the portal — how are things looking for 2026?   Will South Dakota State, with Power Four prospects Chase Mason and Quinten Christensen poised to stay and lead in Brookings, bounce back into national championship contention?   Should South Dakota — having lost quarterback Aidan Bouman (eligibility), All-America running back L.J. Phillips (visiting Iowa this week), receiver Larenzon Fenner (committed to Cincinnati), and defensive lineman Caden Crawford (committed to Iowa State) — be trusted again to replace its best players and remain a Top 10 team?   What about national champion Montana State, blue bloods North Dakota State and Montana, and runner-up Illinois State?   If only someone who has covered the FCS full-time for a decade can answer those questions and tackle the extremely nuanced and messy advantages and pitfalls of the mad, mad, wild west portal world.   That man is Sam Herder, the senior FCS analyst for HERO Sports, and he is one of the two guests on Thursday's "Happy Hour with John Gaskins."

Former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Ben Leber is now an insider and sideline analyst for the Vikings Audio (Radio) Network. Few Vikings media have more access or can understand football situations — on the field and in the locker room — like Leber.   We spent nearly a half-hour with the former Vermillion Tanager and South Dakota Sports Hall of Famer. Topics:   * The Vikings legacy of C.J. Ham, the Augustana alumnus who likely played his last NFL game on Sunday * The good, bad, ugly, and improvable of quarterback J.J. McCarthy and who the Vikings need to surround him with at QB in the offseason — perhaps just keep former NDSU Bison Carson Wentz around?   * The possibility of highly-coveted defensive coordinator Brian Flores remaining in Minneapolis, and who the Vikings should pursue to replace him if he leaves   * The impact of former USD and Rock Valley linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel  

If you're trying to keep up with college football's transfer portal, you're getting dizzy.   Wednesday brought a tidal wave of news for three of USD's best players from last year who are taking their talents to not just the FBS, but Power Four teams:   * L.J. Phillips, the top rusher in the FCS, is visiting Iowa this week   * Larenzo Fenner, one of the top receivers in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, committed to Cincinnati and will join former USD offensive lineman Joe Cotton, who was named All-Big 12 in his first year with the Bearcats   * Caden Crawford, a second team All-MVFC defensive lineman who started his career at Iowa, is joining former SDSU coach Jimmy Rogers at Iowa State   Happy Hour host John Gaskins breaks down what it would mean for both the Hawkeyes and Phillips if he decides to commit to Iowa, and also dives into what is in store for Fenner's potential productivity in Cincinnati.   There have been plenty of other relevant developments in recent days — like former SDSU and Washington State defensive lineman Max Baloun headed to Iowa State with Jimmy Rogers, as well — plus SDSU bringing in former Notre Dame quarterback Anthony Rezac over the holidays.   GUESTS   Dari Nowkhah, SEC Network lead anchor Meanwhile, the biggest college football news of the day Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson — at midseason, considered a Heisman Trophy candidate — leaving for the NFL.   Where does this leave South Dakota native Kalen DeBoer at quarterback heading into year three after a disastrous Rose Bowl loss to Indiana?    Nowkhah has blunt thoughts on that, how the offense plummeted in the last few games, and the low energy level of Bama fans at the moment.    The bigger picture is not just Bama's erosion on the national stage the last few years — yes, even under Nick Saban before DeBoer arrived — it is the entire SEC at the moment having lost its grip as the best league in the country to the Big Ten.   How did that happen? What does the future hold? And who will win this week's CFP semifinals? Oh, and that whole Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss/LSU thing — which Kiffin team has a brighter future?   Bart Winkler, Packer podcaster & former national radio host Green Bay lost its last four games, including a meltdown in Chicago, and yet is favored to beat the No. 2 seed Bears in Soldier Field on Saturday. How is that possible?   How should we look at Matt LeFleur now that the Packers are the No. 7 NFC seed for the fourth consecutive season?    Winkler will make you think and laugh hard, no matter if you're a Packer fan or hater. He also gives his own esoteric and big picture ramblings on the Vikings, Bears, and Lions — stay for his rant about how J.J. McCarthy is being treated.