FARGO — There is the transfer portal. Then there is what happened to South Dakota State in the offseason, a defection from Brookings to Washington State unlike anything the Missouri Valley Football Conference has ever seen.

When Jimmy Rogers accepted the head coaching position with the Cougars, he took 16 of his Jackrabbit players and several incoming recruits with him. On top of that, offensive lineman Evan Beerntsen and receiver Griffin Wilde went to Northwestern, tight end Davin Stoffel to Illinois and quarterback Mark Gronowski to Iowa.

It wasn’t easy on the guys who stayed.

“Oh yeah, it definitely is tough just because you spend so much time together,” said defensive tackle Kobe Clayborne. “But like we’ve talked about, that’s the new age of college football and with social media it

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