South Dakota State QB Austin Sumner One to Keep an Eye On

I don’t often pay attention to the sports that are going on around me here in South Dakota, sometimes I’m even oblivious to the athletics that are going on at my own school. However, when a kid I know or someone I grew up with starts to show up in the paper, I like to follow their high school and collegiate careers.

One such player is current South Dakota State quarterback Austin Sumner, a redshirt freshman who I know from way back in the day. Sumner was one of the most dominant quarterbacks in South Dakota high school football history, and I figured he would receive some big D-1 offers since he has prototype quarterback size at 6-foot-5.

Two years after finishing a stellar high school career, Sumner has taken over the starting quarterback job for the Jackrabbits and is the first signal caller since 2008 to pass for 300 yards in consecutive games for SDSU.

He is only a redshirt freshman, but he is playing lights out football, and was honored for a 345 yard, four touchdown effort last weekend against Youngstown State.

If you have ESPN3 access, which I assume many of you NFL Draft fans do, check in on the Jacks for a bit to see the 6’5″ 230 pound freshman play, and you can be sure that you won’t be disappointed. SDSU takes on Northern Iowa in prime time.

Sumner is an excellent athlete who was also a very good basketball player in high school. The Jacks don’t have a lot of guys making a huge impact in the NFL right now, but Danny Batten got a start for the Buffalo Bills last week and they are gaining a reputation as a school that can produce NFL caliber players.