Cole earned South Dakota Gatorade Player of the Year honors in 2012, rushing for 874 yards and 15 touchdowns while also recording 71 tackles in leading Dell Rapids High School to its third consecutive Class A state title ... a three-time all-state selection and two-time member of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader Elite 45 he averaged 9.1 yards per carry during his career to finish with 2,447 rushing yards and 42 rushing touchdowns ... also recorded 280 tackles, 24 tackles for loss and three interceptions on the defensive side of the ball ... will be a third-generation Jackrabbit student-athlete -- his grandfather, Jim, was an all-conference football player and All-America baseball player at SDSU before embarking on a hall-of-fame football career with the Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings, while his father, Tracy, also was an all-conference baseball player for the Jackrabbits ... a member of the National Honor Society, he intends to pursue a major in engineering