At first, a small town the size of Brookings is not what a Minnesota "Mr. Football" finalist from just outside of Minneapolis had in mind for college football.

Then Jake Wieneke met South Dakota State coach John Stiegelmeier on his recruiting visit in January 2013, and everything changed on a dime.

All Wieneke's decision to become a Jackrabbit led to was catching more dimes for more yards and more touchdowns than anyone in the history of the program and Missouri Valley Football Conference. 

The 6'4 speedy wideout burst out of the gates and finished runner-up for the Jerry Rice Award (top freshman in the FCS), then continued to team with quarterbacks Zach Lujan and Taryn Christion and offensive coordinator Eric Eidsness to re-write SDSU record books and elevate the Jacks from a Top 20 program to a Top 10 juggernaut, a stretch that included SDSU's first MVFC title in 2016 when Wieneke was a junior.

Now a missionary for athletes at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Wieneke looks back a career that helped transform SDSU into the powerhouse it is today and shares stories about those prolific quarterbacks and future NFL teammates like Zach Zenner and Dallas Goedert.

His stories are vivid, real, and raw: The Jacks' landmark win at North Dakota State in 2016 — including his game-winning touchdown catch with one second left — to his career ending in a nightmare loss at James Madison in the FCS semifinals (after which he had perform a random NCAA drug test that dragged out a while), to the moment he decided to retire from football after a few years in the Canadian Football League.

The hour-plus conversation starts with the good-natured Wieneke catching us up on how he got started in his current profession and ended up in Lincoln. The chat ends with how he applies all his athletic experiences to the Big Ten athletes he now mentors.

Before all that, Happy Hour host John Gaskins provides a John-o-logue...

There's a classic Seinfeld episode (Season 8, Ep. 22) where, after he was fired by the New York Yankees but receieved a three-month severage package, George Costanza relishes in having an entire summer off and proclaimed "The Summer of George!"     Tuesday, smack dab in the middle of July and midsummer, after Monday's MLB Home Run Derby and ahead of Tuesday's All-Star game, Happy Hour host John Gaskins declared 2025 "The Summer of Buck!"     Already one of the game's most all-around studs, already having his best pro season, Byron Buxton supplied two wow moments within three days when he hit for the cycle on Saturday — completing it with a 427-foot home run to centerfield — and by blasting 20 moon shots in the first round of Monday's derby.   Yet, many die-hard Twins fans like Monday's Happy Hour co-host Matt Zimmer still can't watch these golden moments without lamenting what could have been.   Gaskins has a message for all those who find the Summer of Buck to be bittersweet, plus a reminder of what fans can catch when they come to The Birdcage to see the Sioux Falls Canaries play on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights this week:   The highest-scoring (by far), most home run hitting (by far), and highest-hitting team in the American Association of Professional Baseball, with six league all-stars, including two local players among the league's best five hitters. With 42 games left, the Birds are 33-25, which is excellent but good only for third place, 4.5 games back of the loaded west division's lead. But they are on pace for their third consecutive playoff berth.