ST. LOUIS —South Dakota senior linebacker Brock Mogensen has been voted Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Year and Bob Nielson was named Coach of the Year as the major award winners were announced Monday.
Mogensen, who hails from Farmington, Minnesota, is the second Coyote to earn the award joining outside linebacker Tyler Starr who first earned it back in 2013.
“Brock is truly deserving of this award,” said Nielson. “His tremendous play and leadership has been a huge part of the success of our defense and our football team.”
Mogensen is now a three-time all-MVFC linebacker. He led the Valley with 85 tackles in conference play and his 103 tackles during the regular season ranked 20th nationally. Mogensen’s 389 career tackles rank fourth in program history and are third-most among active FCS players. He led a South Dakota defense that held seven of 10 FCS opposing offenses to seven points or fewer.
Nielson is MVFC Coach of the Year for the second time. His first honor came in 2015 when he led Western Illinois to the FCS playoffs. Nielson has been named a conference coach of the year six times throughout his career.
Nielson has orchestrated the best turnaround in FCS football this season. He took a Coyote team picked to finish ninth in its own conference to the No. 3 overall seed in the FCS playoffs. It is the first top-eight seed in program history. The Coyotes’ No. 3 ranking in the polls is their highest at the FCS level.
Last week Nielson was named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award presented annually to the FCS Coach of the Year. South Dakota has won a program-record nine FCS games, an improvement of six wins from a year ago which is the highest win differential among FCS teams this year. Included in the wins are three against top-10 teams and four against nationally-ranked foes.