Aug. 26—BROOKINGS — South Dakota State took a little longer than usual to finalize and announce their 2026 football schedule, as they were having kind of a tough time finding a 12th opponent.
When they did and the slate dropped, Jackrabbit nation collectively asked themselves the same thing — where is Stetson? And what the heck is a 'Hatter'?
The 2026 season begins Saturday for SDSU, and the No. 3 ranked Jacks will host the Florida-based Stetson Hatters in the first meeting between the schools.
A member of the FCS's Pioneer League — the one that doesn't offer scholarships — Stetson restarted the football program in 2013 after it had been dormant since 1956. Based in DeLand, Fla., Stetson was established in 1883 as DeLand Academy, but was soon renamed after philanthropist John B. Stetson provided financial support to the institution.
Stetson had made his fortune by inventing the cowboy hat in the 1860s and developing and selling the most well-known brand of the hat in America.
Hence, the Stetson Hatters. They fielded their first football team in 1901.
When the school resumed playing football in 2013, Roger Hughes, who had spent a decade at Princeton, was chosen to build the program. By year six he'd built them into a Pioneer League contender, going 8-2 in 2018 and 7-4 in 2019. But they went 0-4 in the 2020/21 spring season, at which point Hughes resigned to become the president of Doane University in Nebraska.
The Hatters haven't had a winning season since.
Tasked with getting them back to their winning ways is Mike Jasper, who's entering his second season at the helm. A former defensive tackle noted for his size (he played at nearly 400 pounds), Jasper is the last NAIA player taken in the NFL Draft, when the Bills picked him in the 7th round out of Bethel (Tenn.).
After a few seasons bouncing around NFL practice squads Jasper got into coaching and eventually took over his alma mater, going 44-20 in six seasons leading the Wildcats, with two NAIA playoff appearances and one Mid-South Conference title.
He took the Stetson job last year and went 3-9 in his first season at the helm. When the Hatters went outside the Pioneer League it didn't go very well — they lost 59-7 to Harvard, 63-0 to Chattanooga and 42-7 to Presbyterian.
Still, the Hatters, like the Jackrabbits, are in their second season under their new coach, hoping to make significant strides with a year of the program under their belt. They have a handful of starters returning, including two quarterbacks who both played well last year in junior Chris Stephenson and sophomore Kael Alexander. Alexander threw eight touchdown passes last year, averaging 136 passing yards per game, while Stephenson was the Hatters' second-leading rusher with 467 yards in seven games. Stetson averaged just 18 points per game last season while they allowed an average of 39. Even assuming they're markedly better this year, they're a team the Jackrabbits should handle easily.
But SDSU won't want to play with their food too much. They have high expectations this year and want to start strong to set the tone. They'll treat the Hatters like a formidable opponent.
"They have a new coaching staff going into their second season, similar to us, so I think you'll see a lot of growth in a program as their culture is more cemented in there," SDSU coach Dan Jackson said. "We should see a big improvement on the team we're watching on film from one year ago."
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