Iddings ‘relentless’ on field: MVFC honors defensive end with first award for USD

A win against a ranked opponent is always nice. Winning an award to go with the win is just icing on the cake.

That was the case for junior Drew Iddings. The Coyotes defensive end was honored as the Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts in South Dakota’s 28-21 win Saturday over the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks.

Iddings was disruptive all game long, finishing with four tackles for loss, along with a sack.

“He did what we asked him to do,” defensive line coach Marquice Williams said. “I tell my guy, ‘You’ve got to win your blocks when you’re one-on-one.’ You have to win those, and he won those.”

This honor is the first time a University of South Dakota player has won the award since joining the MVFC three years ago. Head coach Joe Glenn said this won’t be the last time his 6’6” 290 lb. junior defensive end wins the award.

“He earned it,” Glenn said. “The guy really works hard. He’s terrifically strong. He’s a big guy, and he’ll continue putting up big numbers.”

Williams agreed with Glenn.

“It won’t be the last time he wins it because we are expecting more out of him,” Williams said. “We’re continually always wanting more out of our guys. That’s just the way it is.”

Relentless is the word Glenn likes to use when describing Iddings on the field. Glenn said Iddings thrives because he has a motor that doesn’t quit, which allows him to play sideline-to-sideline.

Williams has the opportunity to work with Iddings on a daily basis and said it’s his work ethic that’s gotten him where he is today.

“He has a lot of passion for the game. There’s no doubt about that,” Williams said.

The path to success

Iddings’ love for football backtracks to his days as a six-year-old growing up in Rapid City, S.D., where his dad was a big influence on his football life.

“He was always a big fan of football and had me start playing at a young age,” Iddings said. “I’ve just loved it ever since.”

Iddings grew up a Viking fan who rooted for wide receiver Cris Carter, but it was the defensive side of the ball that would be his calling card.

He went to Stevens High School in Rapid City and himself on the football field immediately. He saw his first action his sophomore year before anchoring a starting spot on the defensive line his last two years while also playing left tackle as a senior.

The summer heading into his senior year was big because that’s when he said he started garnering the attention of colleges.

“I realized I had a chance to play football in college in between my junior and senior year of high school,” Iddings said. “The University of Nebraska was recruiting me for track, but I ended up picking USD over Augie to play both sports.”

Iddings said the decision to pick South Dakota, which wasn’t a Division I school at the time, wasn’t a tough decision.

“I picked USD because I enjoyed the atmosphere of the team and all the players were very welcoming,” Iddings said. “It felt right when I visited.”

The opportunity of also getting to play for his home state team made the decision even easier for him.

Iddings never got the attention of bigger schools to play football. Surprisingly, the lack of offers from bigger school hasn’t been something that bothered the Rapid City native, especially since it’s now in the past.

“There’s a different mindset when you play those bigger schools,” he said. “I wouldn’t say the lack of offers from bigger schools motivates me.”

Iddings came to South Dakota as a 250-pound football recruit who wasn’t just focused on one sport. He was also a high jumper on the track team, clearing 6’9” at his peak.

But at 250 pounds, Iddings realized he lacked the strength to get much of a push at the line of scrimmage at the collegiate level. If he wanted to make a name for himself on the field, he was first going to have to make a name for himself in the weight room.

One problem: injuries.

After redshirting his first year at USD, he pulled his hamstring warming up before he was set to jump at the conference championship track meet in the spring.

“After the injury I had to try and play catch up during the summer and fall because it held me back that spring,” Iddings said.

The injury lingered and he was unable to participate in the following spring game. On top of that, the school was also undergoing a coaching change with the hire of Glenn, and the team was implementing an entire new defense under coordinator Jason Petrino. With the help of the auto accident attorneys serving Portland, Maine, he will be able to  file a strong case and also with their experience they will also help him to acquire some compensation as a restart for his career and also for his life.

The following year he was a redshirt freshman immediately thrown into action for the first four games as starter David Giese was injured. When Giese got injured again late in the season, Iddings was the next man up and started the season finale in Brookings.

Iddings ended the year with 35 tackles, second among all Coyote defensive linemen. The trajectory arrow was pointing up for him.

But Iddings was dealing with pain through the season and decided to get a MRI the following February. The MRI revealed he had been playing through a fully-torn labrum. A couple weeks later, he had surgery.

“It was a big setback because I couldn’t do the full offseason workouts and get all the benefits from those,” Iddings said.

The injury took three months to recover from, which meant he – again – couldn’t participate in spring game or spring practices. As a sophomore, Iddings was looking at more nagging injuries (two) than sacks (0.5).

Turning point

Iddings had a productive sophomore season, finishing seventh on the team with 51 tackles and notching 2.5 sacks. Most importantly, he was one of 10 Coyotes to start all 12 games. He went into the offseason without an injury.

“He played in every game as a sophomore, but he wasn’t 100 percent,” Williams said. “His labrum was still bothering him a little. The offseason was time for it to fully heal.”

A full offseason with a healthy body meant Iddings could attack the weight room like never before. When Iddings wasn’t on the field practicing, he was in the weight room.

The now lineman broke the school record for the power clean at 375 pounds. Pair that with his high-jumping background and a good picture of his athleticism is painted.

Starting right tackle Derek Chancellor said watching Iddings go to work in the weight room is a joy.

“(Iddings) is a beast up in the weight room,” Chancellor said. “He brings a consistent level of intensity up there.”

Coming into his junior year, Williams knew his prized student had all the athletic ability and others were starting to realize that as well.

At the end of July, Iddings was named to the Missouri Valley Football Conference Preseason Team, voted on by coaches of all teams. At the end of August he was named one of four team captains.

Williams said it was an exciting time for the defensive end, but the preseason accolades were just people’s opinions.

“All the stars were aligning for him,” Williams said. “He was healthy and setting weight room records, but we knew we still had a lot of work to do.”

The next part was honing all of the potential and turning it into good football skills.

Williams said if he wanted to better his 2.5 sacks and nine tackles for loss as a sophomore, he was going to start playing with the same mindset as former Coyote outside linebacker and current Atlanta Falcon, Tyler Starr.

“Clearly (Iddings) is a big guy. People don’t mess with him and never really have,” Williams said. “I always tell want my guys to play mean, but play mean within the rules of the game. Just play mean football, and Drew is starting to do that.”

For the first three games of this season, Iddings was filling his role. He had 14 tackles in those three games. However, Iddings, who now says he’s moved from mimicking Cris Carter to Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, didn’t really start putting the opposition on notice until last week, when he won the award.

“It was his breakout game, and for some guys, that’s where it all begins,” Williams said. “The scary part is Drew isn’t even playing his best football yet. His potential is through the roof.”

Williams, who has spent the last two summers working as a coaching intern for the Chicago Bears, said that potential is high enough to continue playing football after college.

“He has to keep developing a mean streak because he can be unstoppable,” Williams said. “He can play on Sundays. The sky is the limit for him.”

Glenn, who has seen his own NFL players in Starr and San Diego Chargers receiver Malcom Floyd, says Williams isn’t lying.

“Yes, the sky is the limit for this guy,” Glenn said. “If he keeps it up, he can make a living doing this.”

More weeks of having box scores reminiscent to Watt will surely help accomplish that feat.

Though the NFL is definitely a goal of his, Iddings doesn’t want to get too far ahead of himself. His focus right now is getting his body ready during the bye week and preparing for Southern Illinois Oct. 4th hopefully into the playoffs.

“Every football player out there always has the dream of going to the NFL,” Iddings said. “But I’m just focused on the here and now and getting ready for the upcoming game that week and seeing where that takes us.”

That response was the least of surprises for his defensive line coach.

“In (Iddings’) eyes, winning the Missouri Valley is better than any individual award.” Williams said. “That’s just the type of kid he is.”

(Junior defensive end Drew Iddings chases Northern Arizona quarterback Kyren Poe during Saturday’s home game against the Jacks in the DakotaDome. Malachi Petersen / The Volante)