BROOKINGS – Jimmy Rogers just completed his first spring practice season of his head coaching career at South Dakota State on Saturday as SDSU played its annual spring game at the Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex.

Rogers, who replaced long-time head coach John Stiegelmeier back in January after SDSU won its first national championship, had been solo defensive coordinator in 2022 after sharing the role for three seasons before. He said the biggest adjustment for him this spring was having to be the leader of everyone on the team, not just the leader of the defense.

“[The biggest adjustment] was having to talk more, and then having to have answers for everybody and being forward thinking in the process of that. People are relying on me to get this stuff ready and be organized. So, that part was slightly different. I’ve said this before, the players know who I am, and I coach them how I coach them and that’s not going to change. Maybe the offense hears me more than they’ve heard me, and just being more in tune with that. [The adjustments are] more the administrative stuff and not necessarily the football stuff,” Rogers said.Rogers kept former SDSU quarterback Zach Lujan as the offensive coordinator this offseason. With Rogers having to work more with both sides of the ball, Lujan said he’s seen a lot more of an unbiased opinion from Rogers when they do offense versus defense.

“He’s called more defensive holding than we’ve ever had in the spring, so that’s kind of how he’s [working both sides of the ball],” Lujan said with a laugh. “But no, he’s doing a great job. Obviously he knows all the guys, but he’s been very intentional about building relationships and that’s one of the things that I appreciate the most about him,” Lujan said.

SDSU returns almost every starter on offense and more than half of the starters on defense from its national championship team. With a lot of them being upperclassmen, Rogers said there was a bit of an adjustment period at the beginning of spring practices because he ran them a little bit different than Stiegelmeier.

“We were a little shorter on the field [for practice], but a little faster from period to period and tried to make the most out of team settings as possible. I don’t want to keep the guys out here forever. I want to get our work done, but in order to get our work done, you have to have some urgency to move too,” Rogers said.

Lujan added that he liked the way the team practiced in the spring. He said there was little bit more of an intensity, but there was also a lot of the same things from previous years.

“[This spring] was awesome. It was fun. As football coach, it’s a lot more fun coaching football, and that’s what spring ball is. Coach Rogers’ practices were very similar to how they’ve been. They were maybe a little more competitive, which is the intent to push each other, offense versus defense. There was a winner and a loser, and each side of the ball had better days that the other, which is what it’s all about, kind of an iron sharpens iron type of thing. Coach Rogers did a great job and I think it’s kind of unique. He’s been here for so long and understands how things operate and did a great setting the tone, but also continuing on [Stiegelmeier’s] legacy,” Lujan said.

Rogers added seven new position coaches after taking over. That includes special team’s coordinator Pat Cashmore, tight ends coach Chris Meyers, cornerbacks coach Mike Banks, defensive line coach Jalon Bibbs, wide receivers coach Jake Menage, safeties coach Pete Menage and running backs coach Robbie Rouse. Rogers said he made it a point to make sure that all of his coaches were on the same page in the spring because they don’t have a whole lot of time to mesh together if they want to go for back-to-back national titles in the fall.

“I don’t get a chance to sit in on every position meeting with the way our guys class schedule is set up, but I am in every defensive meeting to coach the coaches to make sure that we operate, and everyone is on the same page. Coach [John Stiegelmeier] would say that it takes three years to get on the same page. We don’t have three years, we have right now, and we need to get on the same page. I thought we did a good job of that [this spring]. We brought in good coaches and they adapted quick and we’ll make a run at [another national championship].”

Rogers will make his head coaching debut on Aug. 31 when the Jackrabbits host Western Oregon at 7 p.m. SDSU will then play an FCS Semifinal rematch against Montana State on Sept. 9 in Brookings before playing its final nonconference game at Target Field in Minneapolis against Drake on Sept. 16.