(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
It wasn’t that long ago when Max Pelham and Ryan Harrington found themselves booting the ball underneath the Friday Night Lights inside Ankeny Stadium.
But now that pair of former all-state specialists for the Ankeny Hawks has linked up on one of the premier FCS Division I football programs in the country with the South Dakota State Jackrabbits.
Pelham, a senior punter, is on the homestretch of his collegiate career. Harrington, a true freshman kicker, is just a handful of games into his young career.
“When I found out that Ryan was coming up here, I was so excited to have another Ankeny guy,” Pelham said. “Me and my buddies got a house here, and we let Ryan come over and hang out all the time. He’s a little goober, but I love him.”
That hometown connection was appreciated by Harrington.
“It helped me out especially right at the start,” Harrington said. “I knew Max, and we had a little bit of a connection from Ankeny. It helped me open up a little bit to the team with just him introducing me and being a leader. He’s done really good just helping lead the specialists group.”
The two former Ankeny standouts carved different paths to landing at South Dakota State.
Pelham originally committed to Minnesota State-Mankato out of high school. He spent the first two years of his career with the Mavericks, an NCAA Division II program.
During his time in Mankato, Pelham tallied nearly 3,400 yards on 84 punts across his freshman and sophomore seasons. He placed 25 of his 84 attempts inside the 20-yard line and had 12 punts of 50 or more yards with his long of 67 yards coming in his initial season.
But Pelham made the decision that Mankato wasn’t the spot for him after those two seasons, and that ultimately led him to the Jackrabbits in Brookings, S.D.
“I was so blessed to get an opportunity to play in Mankato,” Pelham said. “They gave me my first scholarship out of high school. (But) two years in, I was kind of at a crossroads. I felt like I could do something better for myself and I took a chance on myself, so I hit the (transfer) portal. Hats off to (former special teams coordinator) Pat Cashmore and Jimmy Rogers. They took me to this place and gave me ample opportunities for everything.”
Rogers was the head coach of the SDSU program after leading the Jacks to a national championship in the 2023 season. He was previously an assistant head coach and defensive coordinator under longtime head coach John Stiegelmeier during SDSU’s first national championship in 2022.
However, Pelham faced a coaching change over the offseason with Rogers taking the head coaching job at Washington State and former SDSU assistant Dan Jackson taking over as the head coach of the Jacks.
Despite the change, Pelham felt right at home in Brookings.
“This place matches my energy and me as a person, and I wouldn’t want to play for anyone other than Dan Jackson,” Pelham said. “He’s a fantastic head coach, so personable, he cares about me and my interests and making me a better person. Hats off to (special teams coordinator) Isaiah Jackson, too. He hit me up during the coaching transition and assured me that everything was ok. I really wouldn’t want to be anywhere other than Brookings and playing for these guys.”
Now in his final season, Pelham is handling punting duties as well as holding for field goal and PAT attempts. He’s netted 10 punts for 468 yards so far in his Jackrabbits career.
During Pelham’s final season as a Hawk in 2022, he earned all-state honors while helping Ankeny to a 10-3 record and a state runner-up finish. He went 61-of-63 on PATs and recorded 38 touchbacks on 73 kickoffs.
Harrington, on the other hand, committed to the Jackrabbits during his all-state senior season last fall, when he helped the Hawks to a 6-5 record.
Harrington converted all 27 of his PATs, went 11-of-15 on field goals with a long of 53 yards, recorded 31 touchbacks on 45 kickoff attempts and punted 30 times for 1,119 total yards (37.3 average).
Harrington’s recruiting process originally took him around to a variety of schools in the Midwest, but once the Jacks entered late in the fold, the scholarship offer was what closed the deal with his commitment to SDSU following shortly thereafter.
“The team looks really good,” Harrington said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better place to be. I chose this place for a reason, and the team is performing like why I chose here. I’ve got great teammates, and we’ve got a great culture here. I’m looking forward to the future.”
There’s been a bit of an adjustment for the true freshman with a noticeable leap from Class 5A high school football in Iowa to the FCS Division I landscape.
Other than the notable talent increase, Harrington is now playing at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium with a capacity of 19,340–a much larger venue than any of the CIML stadiums. It gives a nice boost to the gameday atmosphere.
“The environment is different,” Harrington said. “Ankeny is a big high school, but nothing matches this in high school. There were about 20,000 people (at the stadium), it’s a lot louder, a lot more energetic, and it gets you amped up when you’re out there. I’ve been having a lot of fun.”
Harrington went from one of the best kickers in the state and the Hawks’ go-to guy to one of five kickers on the South Dakota State roster. He is one of three freshman kickers that the Jackrabbits brought in this fall.
Grad transfer Eli Stader currently holds the field goal duties for SDSU, while Harrington has been trusted with kickoff duties. In four games, Harrington has booted 25 kickoffs for 1,518 yards and nine touchbacks.
Harrington also drilled a 39-yard field goal during the Jacks’ 37-21 win over Drake on Sept. 13.
“(The competition) has definitely gotten me better, and it’s gotten my teammates better as well,” Harrington said. “It’s just helped a lot, and I’ve gotten a lot better because of it.”
Pelham and Harrington aren’t the only two players from the city of Ankeny on the Jackrabbits’ roster. They’re joined by former Ankeny Centennial standout and Iowa Western transfer Brody Targgart.
SDSU hasn’t gotten a real chance to see what the defensive lineman can do on the field as Targgart is sidelined with an injury. Over his two seasons playing with the JUCO powerhouse, Targgart recorded 24 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 14 games before transferring to the Jackrabbits.
“It’s awesome,” Pelham said of having Targgart on the team. “When Brody first got here, I was giving him a little bit of crap saying ‘It’s always Ankeny on top no matter where you’re at.’ But he’s got great vibes. After you graduate from Ankeny, we’re all from the same place, so it’s cool to have everyone in one spot.”
As it stands, Pelham, Harrington and the Jacks are gearing up for another big season and a hopeful run in the playoffs after opening the 2025 campaign with a 4-0 record.
Their most recent game also happened to be their most dominant win of the season, a 51-7 rout over Mercyhurst last Saturday. It was a game that saw Harrington take a season-high nine kickoff attempts, while Pelham wasn’t required to punt a single time.
Both of the former Hawks are feeling pretty confident with how the team has been handling business, and both are holding out hope the season will end in Nashville, Tenn., with the Jacks’ third-ever national championship.
But neither of the specialists would be in the position they are now on a top Division I FCS program without the support from the Ankeny community getting them there.
And that’s something they hope the current and future football players in Ankeny get to cherish.
“There’s really not a whole lot of things better than Friday Night Lights,” Pelham said. “I encourage all the guys on Ankeny and Ankeny Centennial to just live in the moment and enjoy what you have. The support we had at Ankeny is next to none. We have a lot of people there that care about you.”
“I’d also say just have fun out there,” Harrington added. “That’s the biggest thing. You’ve got so much support. The Ankeny community is huge and nobody wants to see you fail, they just want to see you succeed. Ankeny and Centennial, they support so well.”
