Additions made to Jacks football staff

2-22-22

BROOKINGS, S.D. (GoJacks.com) — South Dakota State University head football coach John Stiegelmeier announced the hiring of three assistant coaches Friday, completing the Jackrabbits’ coaching staff for the upcoming 2022 season.

Two of the new coaches are former Jackrabbit football players – Josh Davis as passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach and Jesse Bobbit as safeties coach and recruiting coordinator. Also joining the coaching staff as tight ends coach is Chris Meyers.

Davis previously served as wide receivers coach at SDSU from 2009-15, when he mentored five players currently in the Jackrabbits’ top 10 for career receptions. He spent the past six years at Northwestern College (Iowa), where he was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for a perennial top-10 NAIA program that reached the national championship game in spring 2021.

A standout receiver himself for the Jackrabbits from 2002-05, Davis ended his career as the Jackrabbits’ all-time leader in receptions (225) and ranked second in both career receiving yards (3,192) and touchdowns (26). While those marks have been surpassed, Davis continues to hold the SDSU single-game receptions record with 16.

Bobbit, who played linebacker for the Jackrabbits 2013-16, began his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at SDSU in 2019. He moved on to Washington State, where he was a defensive graduate assistant and quality control coach during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He primarily worked with the linebackers for a WSU program that earned a berth in the Sun Bowl this past season.

A team captain at SDSU during his senior season, Bobbit registered 306 career tackles, including racking up a career-high 110 tackles in 2016, when he was a second-team all-Missouri Valley Football Conference selection.

Meyers most recently served as an offensive line graduate assistant at Oklahoma State, where he worked with a unit that cleared the way for 2019 NCAA rushing champion Chuba Hubbard. The 2021 Oklahoma State team played in the Big 12 Football Championship and closed a 12-2 season with a win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.

A 2015 graduate of Texas Christian University, Meyers began his coaching career as an offensive line assistant for teams that combined for a 23-3 record and two bowl victories during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. He then moved on to Stephen F. Austin for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, working as offensive line quality control coach.

South Dakota State has qualified for the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs each of the past 10 seasons. The Jackrabbits reached the national title game during the 2020-21 spring season and advanced to the national semifinals during the 2021 fall campaign, combining for a 19-6 record during the calendar year. SDSU matched a school record with 11 wins this past fall.