Red-letter Sept. day on tap for former Cambridge star

Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Steve Kodad/McCook Daily Gazette Former Cambridge High School standout Mike Shoff was in McCook recently taking in a McCook Community College baseball game at the Jaycees Sports Complex. The South Dakota State University freshman is hoping to be the starting center for the Jackrabbits next fall after sitting out his first college season last fall as a redshirt.

Every calendar in Mike Shoff's South Dakota State University dorm room probably has Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013 highlighted.

In Big Red ink.

Shoff is the former Cambridge High School star who has achieved a lifelong dream to play college football. While the Cambridge gentle giant didn't get the chance to fulfill his dream of gridiron glory playing for his home state Nebraska Cornhuskers, Mike will likely make a big name for himself at the Division II football program in Brookings, S.D.

Shoff was a three-sport standout for the Trojans and a 2012 Cambridge High School graduate. The Shoff family moved back to Cambridge from Sutton before Mike's junior year of high school. Through four years of prep wrestling, he lost just one match -- a one-point decision in overtime in the 2009 Class D 285-pound championship finals, his freshman season in Sutton.

The three-time state champion also won the all-class gold medal in the shot put at the 2012 state track and field meet last May in Omaha. Shoff's winning throw measured 60 feet, 11 1/2 inches.

Nebraska recruited the speedy lineman last year, but the Huskers didn't come through with a scholarship offer. Passing on a chance to walk-on in Lincoln, Shoff instead accepted a scholarship to join the SDSU program.

Sept. 21 will be a red-letter day for Mike Shoff. He hopes to be the starting offensive center when his Jackrabbits play the Huskers in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.

Shoff was home recently on spring break, as South Dakota State finished up football winter conditioning, with the start of spring football set for Friday, March 22. The Gazette caught up with Mike at a McCook Community College baseball game at the Jaycees Sports Complex in McCook.

SHOFF TOOK a redshirt in his first year of college football last fall, meaning he has four years of eligibility remaining for the Jackrabbits. That first year in Brookings has paid dividends, as Shoff has bulked up to 320 pounds on his 6-foot-6 frame. He completed at about 290 pounds during his final prep football season at Cambridge in 2011.

Right before spring break and at the end of winter conditioning, SDSU football team members endured physical testing as the team capped preparations for spring drills. Shoff said he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.87 seconds and recorded a 32-inch vertical jump. At 6-6 and 320 pounds.

"I was pretty happy with that -- I hope the coaches were," Shoff said of his off-the-chart test marks. "That was kind of the talk of the football team for a little bit."

SHOFF WORKED during his redshirt campaign last fall as a second-team left offensive tackle for SDSU. The team's starting center graduated, and Shoff made the switch to the middle of the Jackrabbit O-line. He and another line mate will battle for the starting center spot for next fall.

"It's been a new transition, it's something new," he said of his new position. "You're learning new things every day. It's been fun so far. Right now I've got my nose in the playbook trying to get all the calls that you have to make as a center. That will be a big responsibility, but it's one that I'm willing to take. Hopefully I can do well with that.

"It will be fun for spring ball. I'm hoping to get most of the snaps with the ones (first team) and then just do what I can to make sure I'm ready for that first game and then ready for Nebraska."

THE THIRD Saturday in September, 2013, will be a strange one for Shoff, as he hopefully trots on to the Memorial Stadium turf as the starting center for SDSU when the Jackrabbits take on his beloved Huskers. He would have loved to be wearing Nebraska red, but he will instead focus for giving his all for South Dakota State.

"I'm dedicated to South Dakota State now, but it would be good to show (Nebraska) what they missed out on and that I could do it. Just happy to get to play at Memorial Stadium on a Saturday, that's the big thing. I still could have gone there; I'm missing out on all those Saturdays playing for the Big Red. But hopefully we can go in there and shock the nation a little bit."

Husker fans probably can recall another September a few years back -- Sept. 25, 2010 to be exact. South Dakota State came to Lincoln, and the Jacks gave NU all they wanted before the Huskers finally survived with a 17-3 victory.

SDSU FINISHED last season with a 9-4 record. Two of those losses came to Division II national champion North Dakota State -- a 20-17 setback at Fargo, N.D. late in the regular season, and a 28-3 loss in Fargo in the second round of the NCAA national playoffs. The Jackrabbits opened the 2012 season with a 31-17 loss at Kansas.

Shoff and his teammates will host North Dakota State in a key game in Brookings Sept. 28, one week after the trip to Lincoln.

"They've got most of their people back, so it will be a good battle between us and them," Shoff said of North Dakota State. "I'd assume either us or them would win the national championship next year."

Shoff is anxious for the fall season to get here after not being able to play a game with the redshirt last year. Mike said it's been a relatively easy adjustment from high school to college football.

"I honestly thought college football would be a lot harder than what it was (last year)," he said. "I kind of came in, right away coach saw something special in me. I ended up taking all the reps in fall camp with the second team at left tackle. We have an All-American left tackle there now -- he'll be playing on Sundays in a couple years.

"Right now I'm learning what I can. I've always had the size and the speed and strength. It's the mental part that I've got to master now. So far I'm doing a pretty good job with that."

ONE MAJOR difference for Shoff has been in the classroom. With a smile on his face, he said he didn't have to study in high school.

"Now you're studying 24-7. You don't get much of a social life other than the weekends," Shoff said. "You've got to stay on top of that."

He said the SDSU coaches are tough on the players when it comes to academics, and that the football program takes academics seriously.

"That was one of the big things that pulled me there," he said.

Shoff is majoring in exercise science and pre-physical therapy. He'll face three years of graduate school down the road, but pro football could get in the way if that opportunity arises when his SDSU football career is finished.

"That's definitely always been a dream of mine," Shoff said of the NFL. "If it's looking like I have a shot, I'll definitely make the most of that."

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: