Stiegelmeier Visits Yankton QB Club

South Dakota State head football coach John Stiegelmeier made his annual visit to Yankton Wednesday to address the Yankton Quarterback Club. Here are a couple of the things he covered.

• On renewing the rivalry with USD: “For the people who only want to go to that game (SDSU vs. USD), I have to ask, ‘Where were you when we hosted No. 3 Cal Poly? Where were you when we hosted Illinois State?’ We don’t want one big game. We want Coughlin-Alumni Stadium full every game. USD wants the same thing.”
• On the team’s 7-5 finish (6-2, third in the Missouri Valley): “I keep saying this. We need to raise the expectations outside the locker room,” he said. “The people I care about are inside the locker room, and they are not content.”
• On going for two in the win at North Dakota State: “We made the decision when we got the ball with six minutes left that when we score — that’s how we talk at South Dakota State — when we score, we’re going to go for two. If we don’t get it, I’m a doofus, but we got it.”
• On the NDSU win, the Jacks’ first win in Fargo in 46 years: “Did it make our season? No, but it propelled us into the off-season.”
• On the win over Stephen F. Austin, where the Jacks came back from 28 points down in the third quarter to win on the final play of the game, 50-48: “After the game, (Yankton native) Lance Wipf and a few of our alumni in the area were coming up and congratulating us on a great game. I think it was an entertaining game, not a great one. But we defined ourselves, dug a little deeper.”
• On his halftime speech from the Stephen F. Austin game: “I told them it isn’t going to be what we say that makes the difference. It will be each one of you going out and deciding that you were going to get it done. “I have never said anything earth-shattering, never have, never will.”
• On recruiting: “We’ve had a lot of positive interest. The crop, if I can call it that, in South Dakota is as good as it’s ever been.”
• On the Yankton players in the program, Tyrel Kool, Jesse Ekeren and Derek “D.J.” Eversley: “D.J. tried out, made the team, then broke his foot a week later. We think he’s going to contribute.” “Tyrel had a phenominal fall. He was the best scout team running back we’ve had since Josh Ranek. He’ll play somewhere for us.” “Jesse is a great effort guy. He’s on our kickoff return team.”