By Ryan Deal

605 Sports

Tucker Kraft remembers his roots, just ask his college football coach John Stiegelmeier.

Kraft, an All-American tight end at South Dakota State University, is the first Jackrabbit in program history to declare early for the NFL Draft and his decision left a lasting impression on Stiegelmeier.

“When he told me he was going to leave early, I asked him why and he gave me an answer that I’ll never forget,” Stiegelmeier said. “He said ‘I am potentially going to make life-changing money and I am going to take care of the people that are special to me and ideally help out our community,’ — his community that he grew up in. So he’s very mature, very grounded and this will be really a special dream come true when his name is called.”

The road to Frisco runs through Brookings! It’s has been an immense privilege to play football for this institution. See you next week! #runrabbits pic.twitter.com/dygjUa88Qm

�" Tucker Kraft (@TuckerKraft) November 21, 2022

A dream that started in Timber Lake, a ranching and farming community of around 500 people in western South Dakota. Timber Lake is surrounded by open prairie in every direction, has no stop lights and mostly dirt roads. Its biggest attraction is the annual Days of 1910 celebration in July.

Timber Lake will proudly carry another distinction after the NFL Draft — hometown of NFL tight end Tucker Kraft. And he’s proudly representing Timber Lake and South Dakota.   

“I am beyond proud this is home,” Kraft said. “Although I am ready to get out of South Dakota and start my life, it will always be a part of me.”

Timber Lake isn’t a hotbed for producing NFL talent, and rodeo is the town’s favorite pastime sport. But Kraft checks a lot of boxes as an NFL prospect.  

A chiseled 6-foot-5, 255-pounder, Kraft is built like an NFL tight end and oozes athleticism, potential, work ethic, swagger and confidence. Those traits are what Stiegelmeier said makes Kraft similar to other Jackrabbit greats. 

“His work ethic is very similar to a lot of guys we’ve had,” Stiegelmeier said. “It’s just really, really special. He’s very serious about being as good as he can be and that’s a special quality. Then you couple that with he's got a lot of physical gifts. He’s developed them and put himself in position to do what he loves to do and really live a dream.”

Kraft overcomes adversity on way to NFL prospect  

Kraft’s journey to NFL prospect has come with much adversity. 

Kraft is the youngest of three sons to Tausha and the late Doug Kraft, who died in 2013 during a single-plane crash. Doug was a multi-sport athlete at Timber Lake High School and Huron University, earning NAIA All-American honors as a wide receiver. 

In 1997, Kraft earned a tryout with the Miami Dolphins and Timber Lake’s football field is named after him. Tucker was 12-years-old when his dad died and he’s never far from his thoughts. 

“It’s every day,” Tucker said. “Little by little memories start fading away, but it’s remembering who he was and what he was about more than all the small details anymore.”

Tucker honors his father on game days, wearing one of Doug’s old Huron University football T-shirts under his jersey and writing “DAD” on athletic tape on his wrist. 

Kraft also writes down “BEAU” on athletic tape in honor of Beau DuBray, a former Timber Lake High School student that died in 2020. Kraft and DuBray built a strong relationship through sports and were workout partners.  

“I miss that kid a lot,” Kraft said. “He had a great family and they were very supportive of me. He was a great kid and a great member of the community. So I play for his life and I play for the legacy of my dad.”

More recently, Kraft’s two grandfathers — Jack Kraft and Michael Walter — died nine months apart in 2022. 

“They were just two of his biggest fans,” Tausha said. “They just really wanted to see this process that he’s going through right now and I so wish they would have been able to.” 

Tausha developed an autoimmune disease in 2014, causing her to have trouble breathing and trips to the emergency room in the middle of the night were common. Her condition worsened when Tucker was a budding high school star. 

“I wasn’t able to give him as much support as I would like to have given him,” Tausha said. “I didn’t miss anything, but I still wasn’t as aggressive in the role that I would have liked to have been. He’s never complained. He’s always just said that’s what is going to make me bigger, stronger and a better person.”

 

Kraft’s rise from nine-man football to All-American 

Kraft excelled — and usually dominated — as a three-sport star at Timber Lake High School. The Panthers play nine-man football and compete in South Dakota’s smallest classification (Class B) in other sports.

So Kraft, who was all of 6-foot-5 as a junior and senior, stood above the competition in small-town South Dakota and was a generational-type player for the Panthers. 

“It was incredible the ability he had amongst the field that we were in,” Timber Lake football and track and field coach Ryan Gimbel said. “Just to see his raw ability and then match that and put it together with his hard work ethic and his drive and determination.” 

In football, opponents bounced off the all-state running back — yes, a 6-foot-5 running back — on his way to 3,130 rushing yards and 50 rushing touchdowns in his career. The 6-foot-5 chess piece also played quarterback, linebacker, defensive end, guard and punter throughout his high school career. 

Kraft’s senior Hudl highlights are like watching a man amongst boys. The 11-minute video is a collection of him battering, bruising and bulldozing over players much smaller than him. 

“If you couldn’t bring a team to tackle him he was gone,” Gimbel said. “If he stiff-armed most defenders, they weren’t going to bring him down and that gave him the ability to get down field and he just moved past people. I think a lot of times it surprised people how fast he was.”

In basketball, the all-state center led the Panthers to two straight state tournaments and he averaged 14 points and eight rebounds per game as a senior. He regularly bullied people in the paint and rocked the rims as a towering post player. 

In track and field, Kraft’s sheer athleticism and ability were on display across multiple events. He cleared the 300-meter hurdles in 42 seconds, ran the 200-meter dash in 23 seconds, heaved the discus (160 feet) and chucked the shot put (51-feet, 9-inches). 

But Kraft’s small-town roots worked against him on the recruiting scene. Kraft was the ultimate hidden gem and wasn’t a five-star (or any star for that matter) prospect, but his recruitment went quickly. 

Kraft attended an SDSU football camp after his junior season and coaches immediately took notice. The Jacks offered him a scholarship, along with a host of local NCAA Division II schools.

“He had a number of offers,” Stiegelmeier said. “So it was really good to keep him in state and have him be a part of the Jackrabbit program.” 

Kraft committed shortly after the camp and he was the first commit in SDSU’s 2019 recruiting class. But Kraft’s dominant senior video highlights caught the attention of FBS programs. 

Wyoming offered him a scholarship and Iowa State wanted him to walk-on. Wyoming heavily recruited Kraft and he nearly flipped to the Cowboys. 

“I was pretty close,” Kraft said. “I kind of unofficially decommitted verbally from South Dakota State. I was pretty certain I was going to sign my national letter of intent to them (Wyoming), but I stayed in state obviously.”

Kraft says now “I would 10 out of 10 times stick with SDSU and win a national championship,” but it didn’t come without some bumps along the way. He redshirted in 2019 and his mind was initially racing as a college tight end. 

“I was pretty uncertain about my career at that point,” Kraft said. “I didn’t know how much I really loved football anymore. But then I started figuring things out one day at a time, one play at a time and I really started to love it again.”

Kraft admits now he considered quitting or trying a new position. But he leaned heavily on teammates, friends and family during the transition. Kraft’s oldest brother, Cody, went through the same process as a tight end at NCAA Division II Northern State University.  

It eventually began to click for Kraft and his rise to NFL prospect reached new heights in 2021. Kraft hauled in 65 receptions for 780 yards and six touchdowns, earning all-conference and All-American honors as a sophomore.

South Dakota State's Tucker Kraft carries the ball for the Jackrabbits. (Dave Eggen / Inertia Sports Media)
  

The breakout season put him on NFL radars and caught the attention of major college football programs, too. Kraft turned down six-figure NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) deals to transfer to FBS programs. He cited his loyalty to teammates, friends and family for staying at SDSU.

Kraft’s 2022 campaign took a turn in the season opener at the University of Iowa. Against the Hawkeyes, Kraft injured his ankle and he was forced to miss six games.

That’s when Kraft’s loyalty to SDSU was tested again. Kraft’s NFL status was firm based on his 2021 season, and he could have stayed out to avoid further injury. 

His commitment to the program never wavered though and he rehabbed to play for the Jacks again. 

“A picture is worth a thousand words and his loyalty is a picture of what that term means,” said Stiegelmeier, pointing to Kraft’s loyalty to SDSU twice when he could have walked away. “His commitment and love for his teammates is really special.” 

Kraft returned for the final eight games and was instrumental in SDSU’s national championship run. Kraft logged 27 receptions for 348 receiving yards and three touchdowns, earning more all-conference and All-American honors. 

The Jackrabbits punctuated the season with an FCS national championship romp over rival North Dakota State, a first in program history and sent Stiegelmeier out with his long-awaited title. 

“A national championship is something you can’t take away from anybody,” Kraft said. “I got to be a part of coach Stig’s last season, a national championship season.”

‘The town will roar’  

Kraft didn’t soak up the national championship for long. Two days after the championship game in Texas, Kraft was training in Nashville for the NFL Combine.

Kraft tested well at the combine in Indianapolis and recorded the most bench press reps (23) among the tight ends. Kraft, however, wasn’t pleased with his combine performance and said he “crushed it” at SDSU’s pro day.

At his pro day in Brookings, he improved both his 40-yard dash (4.69 seconds to 4.5) and vertical jump (34 inches to 36.5) in front of 23 NFL teams.

Kraft has met with multiple teams at the combine, SDSU pro day and pre-draft visits in Brookings and NFL facilities. The visits are instrumental for draftees as teams put together their draft evaluations.  

“I think I aced every single interview,” Kraft said. “I am going in there trying my best to represent myself and my family to the NFL and to teams that want to pay me to play football for them.”

NFL Draft experts have called this year’s tight end class the best in a decade. Kraft is among the top tight end prospects and has been projected as a Day 2 pick (2nd-3rd round). 

Kraft has visualized the moment he gets drafted and said he isn’t sure how he’ll react. He’s just excited to find his new home.

As far as draft weekend, he’ll be surrounded by family and friends when he returns to his roots in Timber Lake. 

“The town will roar,” Gimbel said. “Whoever drafts him, we will all start to be a part of that team. We are going to watch him have something that a lot of little towns in South Dakota never see and may not ever get the chance to see. It’s kind of an unreal thing.”

South Dakota State's Tucker Kraft carries the ball for the Jackrabbits. (Dave Eggen / Inertia Sports Media)