Former Sioux Falls Roosevelt stand out Cody Larson is now cleared to play for the South Dakota State Jackrabbits basketball team. The NCAA granted him a transfer waiver this week. Both Larson and Head Coach Scott Nagy are excited for this upcoming season.
Larson is a 6'9 inch athlete on the basketball court, which makes him the tallest player currently on the team. Larson played high school ball at Roosevelt in Sioux Falls and then went on to play college ball in Florida with the Gators. Larson got into some legal trouble while in Florida and ended up not playing at all last season. Larson decided to move back home resulting in a transfer to South Dakota State. Coach Nagy says he is thankful the NCAA granted Larson’s waiver allowing him to play this season.
"If you transfer from a D1 to a D1 generally you have to sit out. You know you can file a waiver to try get yourself eligible right away and we did that with Cody based on some pretty good logic and facts in terms of him coming back home and we were fortunate enough the NCAA agreed with us," Nagy says.
Nagy says having Larson on the team makes the Jackrabbits deeper, larger and more physical. He says Larson’s impact should show on the defensive side of the ball.
"He’s a kind of guy that can handle a center on his own because he’s big and physical and he’s athletic and we’ve not had that in a while," Coach Nagy says.
Larson says he is anxious to get a fresh start at SDSU. He says he feels comfortable because he is playing ball only 50 or so miles away from his hometown of Sioux Falls.
"It’s more of a family environment which I think is almost better and you know it’s going to be great that they can come and watch. And you know we’ve got a lot of local guys so it’s you know, we have a big local community supporting us and I think that’s great for the program," Larson says.
Larson is eligible for the next two seasons at South Dakota State. The team begins practice at the end of the month and their first exhibition game is scheduled for Nov. 1 at Frost Arena against Dakota Wesleyan.
