Watertown's Theisen, Aberdeen Central's Carda among Northern's signees

Watertown offensive lineman Jarrett Theisen and Aberdeen Central running back Karson Carda are two of the 40 new additions announced Wednesday by Northern State University head football coach Mike Schmidt on National Signing Day.

The signees including 2023 high school graduates, collegiate transfers and college graduates pursuing a master's degree, all of whom will joined the program for the fall 2023 season.

"Most important, this group of signees fits Northern State, Aberdeen and our football program," said Schmidt. "They are winners on the field, in the classroom and in life. We had an exceptional signing class last year and we feel like we backed it up with another championship-caliber class this year."

The 6-foot-4, 300-pound Theisen was a three-year starter and senior team captain for Watertown under head coach John Hodorff. In 366 total career pass plays, Theisen allowed only one sack and 33 pressures. He is the son of Kevin and Joanie Theisen.

The 6-0, 220-pound Carda was a two-year starter and senior team captain for the Golden Eagles under the direction of head coach Justin Briese. He rushed for more than 2,600 yards with a combined 21 touchdowns in his final two seasons, averaging 6.2 yards per carry in his career. He was a two-time Class 11AA All-State honoree who also earned All-Eastern South Dakota Conference and Argus Leader Elite 45 honors. He is the on of John and Brenda Carda. John, a NSU football alum, earned All-American honors in 1989.

Other South Dakota signees for the Wolves include LB Carson Barnett of Harrisburg, WRs Trenton Peterson of Sioux Falls Lincoln and Julian Scott of Rapid City Stevens, RB Matt Larson of St. Thomas More, LB Gabe Gutierrez of Sioux Falls Lincoln, S Tate Hoffman of Highmore and DLs Noah Hutmacher of Chamberlain, Isaac Johnson of Brandon Valley and Gabriel Lindeman of Dell Rapids St. Mary.

After a check of college web sites in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa, here's a list of South Dakota and west central Minnesota student-athletes who signed Wednesday or had previously signed. Some schools hadn't released their signees.

South Dakota

South Dakota State: Head coach Jimmy Rogers added nine additions Wednesday including Sioux Falls Jefferson safety Beau Giblin and former Gayville-Volin linebacker Andrew Gustad, who enrolled at SDSU last fall. Aberdeen Roncalli kicker-punter Jackson Isakson signed in December.

South Dakota: Head coach Bob Nielson announced 10 additions Wednesday to go with 14 signees in December, including LB Reed Rus of Mount Vernon.

Augustana: Head coach Jerry Olszewski announced 27 additions Wednesday including DLs Jack Detert of Harrisburg and Sam Siegfried of Sioux Falls Jefferson, OL Elliott Renville of Sioux Falls Lincoln, WR Cody Oswald of Yankton and LB Nate Ratzlaff of O'Gorman.

Sioux Falls: Head coach Jim Glogowski's 30 additions on Wednesday include Pierre OL Christian Busch, WR Jack Merkwan and DB Jayden Wiebe; Harrisburg TE Aidan Foley; and OL Sawyer Huntimer and DB London Kolb of Sioux Falls Jefferson.

Dakota Wesleyan: OL Aidan Brower of Sioux Valley; QB Braeden Wulf and DL Gabe Beman of Lennox, OLs Carson Kruggel and Jackson Knuth of Sioux Falls Jefferson, DE Carter Skogsberg of Vermillion, RB Hadley Wallace and WR Jackson Jarding of Hanson, DB Jayden Huber of Sioux Falls Roosevelt, QB Jed Jenson of Rapid City Stevens, RB Landon Iverson of Hot Springs, DL Quade Parker of Custer and WR Xzavian Ferris of West Central.

Dakota State: FS transfer Kaden Eng of Castlewood (Northern State), MLB Colin Bauman of Deubrook Area, OLB Ronald Begalka of Deuel, TE Gavin Benck of Deuel, WR Gannon Gruenhagen and OLB Noah Harrison of De Smet, OLB Ashton Wienk of Iroquois-Lake Benton, DE transfer Beau Bertram of Colome (Chadron State), WR Dylan Langerock of Brandon Valley, Slot WR Maddox Kihne of Freeman-Marion/Freeman Academy, MLB Kaden Hofer of Howard, QB Tray Hettick of Herreid-Selby Area, TE Owen Heath of West Central, OLB Kyle Bares of Dell Rapids St. Mary, RB Matthew Birkeland and DE Dylan Fuoss of Jones County, MLB Zach Boden and OLB Landon Schurch of Beresford, MLB Cade DeVries of Madison, DE Elliott Devries of Huron, TE Gavin Folkers of White River, C Ethan Nehl of Lemmon-McIntosh, RB Niyongabo Yohana of Sioux Falls Jefferson, WR Landon Puffer of Hitchcock-Tulare, WR Aaron (AJ) Siemsen of Mitchell.

RB Anthony Moser, FS Logan Williams and Long snapper Luke Schacher of Douglas; and WRs John Parker and Cruiz Parker, FS Keontay Rawls and CB Terel Williams of Sioux Falls Roosevelt.

South Dakota Mines: RB Gunner Rohloff of Sturgis.

Black Hills State: LB Matthew Gray of Faith, DL Ethan Helich of Tri-Valley, TE Thomas Salmen of HItchcock-Tulare and transfer WR Morgan Harkless of Hot Springs (Chadron State, Neb.).

Iowa

Dordt: S Lorenzo Nelson of Brandon Valley and RB Nelson Wright of Sioux Falls Jefferson (a December commit).

Briar Cliff: Transfer DL Pierce Miller of Spearfish (Chadron State, Neb.) and transfer DB Chayce Montagne of Dakota Valley (Midland University, Neb.).

North Dakota

Jamestown: (Positions not listed). Chase DeRouchey of Potter County, Antuan Duran of Sioux Falls Jefferson, Jaden Eddy of Bridgewater-Emery, Dylan Lichty of Huron and Gunnar Stephens of Burke.

Dickinson State: TE Gage Gilbert of Harding County.

Valley City State: LB BoDell Davidson of Britton-Hecla and RB Owen Quail of Deuel. LB Levi Olson of Dawson (Minn.) also signed.

MSU Moorhead: RB Tyson Brandt of Brookings and QB Lucas Slack of Brandon Valley.

Minnesota

Bemidji State: Transfer long snapper Ryan Damitio of Olympia, Wash. (Presentation College).

Concordia-St. Paul: Transfer DL Kendis Ledbetter of Sioux Falls Washington (North Dakota).

Winona State: Transfer QB Cole Stenstrom of La Crescent, Minn. (South Dakota).

Southwest Minnesota State: RB Braden Fersdahl of Dawson-Boyd (Minn.)

Nebraska

Wayne State: OL August Anderson of Mitchell, QB Bennett Dannenbring of O'Gorman, DE Austin McNulty of Tri-Valley and transfer Will Washenberger of O'Gorman (Sioux Falls).

Ohio

Ohio State University: QB Lincoln Kienholz, Pierre (signed in December).

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on Twitter @PO_Sports.

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: 2023 college football recruiting season opens with National Signing Day.