BleedGopher
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Per Randy:
The year 2023 won’t be remembered as a banner one for the Gophers football team. A four-game losing streak in November left coach P.J. Fleck’s squad with a 5-7 regular-season record, and only their strong Academic Progress Rating and the lack of enough six-win teams enabled them to play in the Quick Lane Bowl.
Amid the struggles, however, the Gophers saw a couple of positive developments emerge on special teams. First, placekicker Dragan Kesich, in his debut season as the starter, made 23 of 27 field-goal attempts on his way to being named the Big Ten Kicker of the Year. Second, punter Mark Crawford averaged a career-best 42.5 yards and received All-Big Ten honorable mention.
It’s fitting that Kesich and Crawford would emerge with solid seasons at the same time because you usually can find them working together. The fifth-year seniors are an odd couple of sorts, with the gregarious Kesich, an Oak Creek, Wis., native embracing his “Serbian Hammer” nickname and putting his big personality out there for all to see, while Crawford, a 30-year-old from Perth, Australia, displays a serious, focused approach.
Together, the personalities play off each other for success on the field. Kesich and Crawford will try to build off their solid 2023 seasons in their specialties, and they combine on field-goal and extra-point attempts with Crawford holding for Kesich. When the situation calls for levity to ease the tension, Kesich will deliver.
“One-hundred percent,” Crawford said of Kesich’s ice-breakers. “When it comes to practice and game days, I get tunnel vision. I get locked in. He’s like a perfect balance to that. He’s like ‘switch on’ and ‘switch off,’ while I can be too switched-on sometimes.”
Said Kesich, “I know I like to be silly and loose, but I think being loose helps a little bit. There’s a lot of hard work that goes in it.”
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
The year 2023 won’t be remembered as a banner one for the Gophers football team. A four-game losing streak in November left coach P.J. Fleck’s squad with a 5-7 regular-season record, and only their strong Academic Progress Rating and the lack of enough six-win teams enabled them to play in the Quick Lane Bowl.
Amid the struggles, however, the Gophers saw a couple of positive developments emerge on special teams. First, placekicker Dragan Kesich, in his debut season as the starter, made 23 of 27 field-goal attempts on his way to being named the Big Ten Kicker of the Year. Second, punter Mark Crawford averaged a career-best 42.5 yards and received All-Big Ten honorable mention.
It’s fitting that Kesich and Crawford would emerge with solid seasons at the same time because you usually can find them working together. The fifth-year seniors are an odd couple of sorts, with the gregarious Kesich, an Oak Creek, Wis., native embracing his “Serbian Hammer” nickname and putting his big personality out there for all to see, while Crawford, a 30-year-old from Perth, Australia, displays a serious, focused approach.
Together, the personalities play off each other for success on the field. Kesich and Crawford will try to build off their solid 2023 seasons in their specialties, and they combine on field-goal and extra-point attempts with Crawford holding for Kesich. When the situation calls for levity to ease the tension, Kesich will deliver.
“One-hundred percent,” Crawford said of Kesich’s ice-breakers. “When it comes to practice and game days, I get tunnel vision. I get locked in. He’s like a perfect balance to that. He’s like ‘switch on’ and ‘switch off,’ while I can be too switched-on sometimes.”
Said Kesich, “I know I like to be silly and loose, but I think being loose helps a little bit. There’s a lot of hard work that goes in it.”
Kicker Dragan Kesich and punter Mark Crawford give Gophers a leg up on special teams
After strong 2023 seasons, the specialists should be key players again, and possibly among the best in the nation.
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
