South Dakota State football's Tucker Kraft plays best playoff game in Jacks' semifinal win

No one was close to Tucker Kraft. In the first quarter and on South Dakota State’s first drive, the 6-foot-5, 255-pound Kraft ran in a straight line up the middle from Montana State’s 36-yard line. The linebacker, and then MSU’s safety, tried to keep up. Neither could. Actually, initially, they didn’t try. Kraft said the Jackrabbits “didn’t even practice that look.” Kraft was wide open because Montana State defenders “forgot” to take him vertical.

“It just opened up a lot,” Kraft said. “The first play of the game kind of just happened.”

Kraft caught the ball in stride, crossed the goal line for a touchdown and slid across the snow-covered turf to open the Jackrabbits' scoring in their biggest game of the year. After declaring for the NFL Draft before the Jackrabbits’ playoff run, Kraft was almost inexplicably uninvolved in SDSU’s first two playoff games. Before Saturday, he had just two playoff touches combined. Both of those were in the Jackrabbits’ 42-21 win over Holy Cross after being a nonfactor in the receiving game the contest before.

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Kraft said there was no real conversation about his involvement, aside from the thoughts that crossed his own mind. SDSU (13-1) didn’t practice anything new. But on one of the first plays of the game Saturday, Kraft took a dump pass on an end-around, acting as something as a promise — in SDSU’s biggest game against its toughest opponent of the playoffs so far — that the superstar tight end ranked the No. 2 tight end in the 2023 Draft by ESPN would be involved in South Dakota State’s eventual 39-18 win over Montana State (12-2) Saturday at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

Kraft had four catches for 69 yards and a touchdown, adding a three-yard rush on a play he lined up under center for a first down to help the Jackrabbits advance to its second-ever FCS National Championship in Frisco, Texas Jan. 8. And though SDSU hadn’t needed his production in its previous two games, the Jackrabbits still have one of the best tight ends in the country to turn to.

“Yeah, we’re running out of time with Tucker,” South Dakota State head coach John Stiegelmeier said. “So, we thought we'd make him earn his scholarship today.”

Even though Saturday was the first time in the playoffs his numbers popped off the stat sheet, Stiegelmeier noted he hasn’t been a nonfactor. The Jackrabbits won a lot of games without Kraft this year, going undefeated against FCS teams in the 2022 season despite its best player missing six games after suffering a foot injury in the season-opener against Iowa.

That wasn’t the same look that SDSU was provided in the playoffs even with the limited touches. When Kraft is active, he’s involved. He’s “upbeat,” Steigelmeier said, not getting the ball but “still positive.” And the Jackrabbits had 289 yards rushing Saturday, which Montana State head coach Brent Vigen said starts with SDSU’s offensive line, “including the tight ends.” South Dakota State’s averaged 239.7 rushing yards per game in three playoff games.

The Jackrabbits, simply, weren’t using the tight end position in the passing game much at all in the playoffs. Co-starting tight end Zach Heins also had just two touches in the playoffs so far, with a catch against Delaware and a catch against Montana State. But, yes, Steigelmeier said: SDSU wanted the ball in Kraft’s hands this week because South Dakota State was playing its most important game of the season and “it’s hard to defend everybody.”

The Jackrabbits started early, having Kraft run in motion, then sending him out for the vertical touchdown pass, then sending him on a slant, then sending him on a post to the sideline for his second grab of the game — matching his playoff total in just the first half. Kraft said that he had run a lot of similar routes in the previous games, teams just “keyed in” on him more. So, when things opened up, the production followed.

South Dakota State used him for as long as it needed, even throwing him under center when it needed a first down: “Well, so far we're undefeated on (that play),” Kraft said with a grin.

But in the second half, it didn’t need much. The Jackrabbits were up big at the half, and Kraft said SDSU “didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves.” But the Jackrabbits kept dominating in the run game. And in a way, Kraft said, that’s “more fun.” And, eventually, Alabama’s “If your gonna play in Texas” blared over the Stadium speakers.

“In the back of my head, I thought it was inevitable,” Kraft said. “It was gonna happen. I just believed that.”

Follow Sioux Falls Argus Leader reporter Michael McCleary on Twitter @mikejmccleary.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: SDSU football's Tucker Kraft plays best playoff game in semifinal win