Former Watertown standout Spencer Waege leads North Dakota State football into Dakota Marker battle

Spencer Waege is the latest player to get caught in the middle of the Dakota Marker rivalry.

A sixth-year senior at North Dakota State, Waege is one of the best players on the No. 1 FCS team in the country, an all-conference defensive end who will be charged with slowing down Isaiah Davis, Mark Gronowski and the rest of the South Dakota State offense when the teams square off Saturday at the Fargodome.

He’s also a South Dakota kid, a native of South Shore who starred for the Watertown Arrows before choosing NDSU. That was a tough decision, as Waege grew up surrounded by Jackrabbit friends and family, but now that the 6-foot-5, 280-pounder has three national championship rings (four if you count his redshirt year) Waege has a little less trouble getting those close to him to support the green and gold.

More:Are the Jackrabbits the Dakota Marker favorites in battle of No. 1 vs. No. 2?

Saturday’s game will be Waege’s last time competing for the Dakota Marker, and he’s left his mark on it. Waege was named to the Missouri Valley Football Conference all-newcomer team as a freshman and was all-conference as a sophomore and junior, earning All-America honors during the 2021 spring season when he had eight sacks in nine games.

Waege suffered a season-ending knee injury in the third game of last season, and while that forced him to watch from the sidelines as the Bison went back to Frisco, he’s returned this year as good as ever, leading the Bison with 3.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles.

The latest in a long line of South Dakotans to cross the border to enjoy a career in green (Dan Marlette, Trevor Gebhart, Preston Evans, Austin Kuhnert, Derrek Tuszka and Mike Hardie are among the others), Waege and the Bison will be looking to bring the Marker back to Fargo for the first time since 2019 on Saturday.

Q&A with North Dakota State football's Spencer Waege

Q: As a team, do the Bison really get excited about the rivalry and playing for the Dakota Marker trophy, or is it more of a just-another-game approach?

A: It’s kind of weird, in that the coaches don’t put any big emphasis on it or make it bigger than any other game, but the players that have been here awhile, they really amp it up and really get the point across that this is not another game.

Q: What’s it been like being a part of this rivalry? Have these games felt more intense, more significant?

A: Oh yeah, absolutely. Mostly because we all know there’s a chance that it won’t be the only time we end up seeing each other during the season. Everyone knows its special and there’s a little extra meaning to it.

Zimmer:Are the Jackrabbits the favorite against NDSU on Saturday?

Q: How special is it for you, personally, being a South Dakotan?

A: It’s always a fun game. I had a lot of family members go to SDSU and graduate from there. A bunch of my high school coaching staff was SDSU football alumni. So growing up there was always SDSU hype. When I came here I think it kind of shocked some people, but it’s something I don’t regret doing. I’ve enjoyed my time here.

Q: Was it hard to convert family and friends to root for green and gold?

A: I know those first 2-3 years I was up here there wasn’t much – a lot of the family would still wear their Jackrabbit stuff when we played each other. Now the last couple years they’ve kind of switched over, at least just for my sake.

Q: Coach (Matt) Entz said as happy as he is for the Bison to be 5-1 and 3-0 in the Valley, he doesn’t think you guys have played close to your best football yet. Do the players feel the same way?

A: Yeah, definitely. For the most part we’re all kind of, I don’t want to say disgusted, but not real happy with how we played in our last game (a 31-26 win at Indiana State). For a lot of us it almost felt like we lost. We left a lot on the field. We know we’re not where we want to be. We haven’t played even close to the perfect game. Part of that is having some younger guys put in some new roles this year and that taking some time. But I think each week we’ve been slowly making progress.

Q: What impresses you about SDSU’s offense?

More:SDSU's offensive line put USD away

A: They’re definitely good at what they do. It seems like their run game, every year they find a way to have really good running backs and really good O-linemen up front. All their positions – quarterback, running back, receivers, tight ends – they always just have really talented guys at every spot.

Q: As far as your guys’ defense, what have you done well and what can you still do better?

A: There’s been some improvement throughout the season. The tackling, I think, from Week 1 to now has slowly gotten better but it’s still an area that needs improvement. There have been times we’ve really got after the quarterback on third down. Our ability to stop the run has been improving, but it’s really gonna be put to the test this weekend.

Q: How about you personally? Are you fully healthy?

A: I’m about as healthy as I can be in the seventh week of the season. I feel like I’m pretty close to back to my old self. There’s things I notice that aren’t quite the same, but there are things I feel like I do better than before I was hurt. So there’s some give and take. But I think I’m close to being the old Spence.

Q: How tough was it to go through that and wait so long to get back on the field?

A: You know, when I tore my knee up people would tell me, you’re gonna come back stronger than ever and you won’t even notice it when you’re back to full strength. But what they fail to mention is how hard that road back really is and how much work it takes to get to that point. The ups and downs through the rehab process and the mental side of it, sitting there having to watch your teammates in close games, like SDSU last year, Missouri State, sitting there watching that and trying to figure out ways to be the best teammate you can.

Q: You’ve been there a long time now. How different are you as a player and person than six years ago when you arrived?

A: It’s honestly kind of crazy, looking at when I came here as a freshman I was playing D-end at 230 pounds and now I’m at 280 – I look at photos of myself as a freshman and it’s like, 'Holy smokes, what a change.' But I definitely feel like I’ve matured in my six years here and really learned the game of football and a lot of things about life being here and being around these coaches and players.

Q: Six years playing for the Bison, all the national championships and awards and big games. What’s it been like to have the career you’ve had?

A: It’s been great. I wouldn’t trade these six years for anything. I’ve been very fortunate to play in national championship games, win national championships and just play in a lot of big games in general. It’s something if you’d asked me when I was in high school I never would’ve dreamt something like it. I just feel extremely blessed to have had this opportunity.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: NDSU's Spencer Waege leads Bison into South Dakota State football game