VERMILLION — There’s a lot of things that college football players are looking for when they get into the transfer portal.
Nathan Laperi was looking for someone to believe in him.
Laperi, a sophomore defensive lineman from Plano, Texas, found that when he signed on with the University of South Dakota and he’s paying that back early in the Coyotes’ campaign.
On Aug. 30, Laperi made his South Dakota debut at No. 14 Iowa State where he recorded his first assisted tackle as a Coyote. Then, he flourished in a 20-13 loss at Lamar on Saturday, Sept. 6, getting to the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage to record his first career sacks with two against the Cardinals.
“It felt good. I don’t want to get too in my head about it, though. Just come out and play every game with fundamentals and try to replicate that stat line every game is the goal,” Laperi said.
Laperi is part of a reworked defense for the Coyotes, which took on 25 transfers ahead of Travis Johansen’s first season as USD’s head coach. Thirteen of those were defenders like Laperi.
Fifteen of those transfers came from FBS programs, like Laperi, who was previously at North Texas and has made an early impact on the deep, defensive line unit for USD.
“It’s been good. They have made it an easy transition for me. I love it up here, so it was the best decision I could have made,” Laperi said.
Laperi played eight games for North Texas last season as a true freshman but the decision to transfer to USD was not just about a fresh start. Despite Johansen stepping into the head coaching role for the first time, Laperi saw something different: that cultural fit, a clear vision and a leader he wanted to play for.
That belief in Johansen and the defensive coaching staff became the deciding factor to make the move to Vermillion.
“Just sitting there with coach Johansen, (defensive line) coach (Nathan) Nelson and (defensive coordinator) coach (Billy) Kirch, they all seemed to believe in me very highly,” Laperi said. “I saw what they did last season, and I watched their game versus Montana State (in the FCS semifinals) before I even hopped in the portal. So, I remembered it, and I was like, ‘That’s something I want to be a part of,’” Laperi said.
In his time with the Mean Green in 2024, Laperi totaled two tackles and a quarterback hurry on the year and recorded his first career tackle against Stephen F. Austin. He also had a tackle in a 44-17 win over Wyoming.
After opening the season with back-to-back losses, South Dakota finds itself in an early hole. As the offense has struggled to find its rhythm in the first two weeks, the pressure is on the defense to stand out and create havoc.
The next opportunity approaches with the home opener against Northern Colorado, who nearly won last week at Colorado State, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13, in Vermillion inside the DakotaDome.
“We definitely need to step it up more on defense and not let them put points on the board,” Laperi said. “But I have faith in those guys on offense to get it done, so I think we will be perfectly fine. Just get a win, simple as that.”
Trey Houchin is a sports reporter for the Mitchell Republic. Trey graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in sports media and covers a wide variety of topics. A Missouri native, Houchin can be reached at [email protected].
