How the Gophers added their Floyd of Rosedale hero to the roster

The Gophers’ football program had finished a long day of preseason camp in late August, but the work wasn’t done.

After midnight, head coach P.J. Fleck, new special teams coach Daniel Da Prato and others had joined a FaceTime call with Luke Drzewiecki — essentially a free-agent placekicker who had just popped up on the open market.

A Louisiana court case against the NCAA had opened the door for Drzewiecki and more than 40 other players to receive a fifth year of eligibility this season. A starting gun had just fired on a race to sign Drzewiecki, and a handful of programs with more money to spend pursued the New Mexico kicker.

In his fourth year, with Da Prato as his position coach in Albuquerque, Drzewiecki was a dead-eye, making 95% of his field goals (18 of 19). With the Lobos, he hit a 36-yarder in overtime of Minnesota’s 20-17 win in the Rate Bowl on Dec. 26.

“I’m sitting there, like, boy, times have changed because we are recruiting a kid versus three other schools right now and this kid’s going to be here tomorrow — if we get him,” Fleck recalled Saturday. “We’ve got to get this kid.”

That wee-hours recruiting effort, and built-in connection with Da Prato paid off as Drzewiecki blasted a 46-yard field goal through the uprights as time expired to beat Iowa 13-10 at Huntington Bank Stadium on Saturday.

Splitting the uprights into the open end of the stadium, the kick would have been good from 55 yards.

“That was no easy field goal, either,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “That breeze was a little bit significant there. We were hoping to keep it out a little further there, but still wasn’t a chip shot for him. Credit to the kicker. He’s missed one now in two years. He’s pretty good.”

Drzewiecki has been lights out for the Gophers, a perfect 12 for 12 on field goals through his six games. That includes six from 40 yards and beyond. He made a 31-yarder to put Minnesota up 3-0 on Iowa in the first quarter.

“Honestly, I was more nervous for the first kick of the game,” Drzewiecki said postgame. “It becomes a very simple game when all I’m focused on (is holder) Tom (Weston), and I have the belief in (long snapper) Alan (Soukup) and Tom to get the ball where all I’ve got to do is kick it. Very simple job.”

But is it?

Last year Brady Denaburg made only 67% of his field goal attempts for the Gophers, including 2 of 7 from beyond 40 yards. Some of those misses cost the Gophers wins.

The U went into this season with a kicking competition between sophomore Daniel Jackson and Beckham Sunderland, a senior transfer from Michigan. Neither had attempted a collegiate field goal.

With that inexperience, the Gophers also tried to bring back Denaburg for a fifth year, but he was unsuccessful in his eligibility case.

Drzewiecki’s eligibility was affirmed by a judge’s injunction against the NCAA in the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, La. The decision came down roughly an hour after the Gophers’ season opener against Eastern Illinois kicked off on Sept. 3.

He had an un-signed minicamp stint with the Baltimore Ravens last spring, which didn’t run afoul of the Big Ten’s new rule forbidding pro players from returning to college.

In his first week on campus, Drzewiecki began to develop an unflappable reputation. That first example came in a forum that induces fear in many: public speaking.

On his own accord, Drzewiecki gave an ice-breaker introduction of himself during a full team meeting in his first week in Dinkytown.

“This dude’s got ice in his veins,” Fleck said about that moment during the KFXN-FM postgame show Saturday.

On Friday, Drake Lindsey was sitting alone in the Larson Football Performance Center. The quarterback was eating and watching some football highlights when Drzewiecki approached. They started chatting when Lindsey made a prediction.

“We started talking, just life,” Lindsey recalled. “And then I just looked at him and was like: ‘You’re going to make a game-winner.’ ”

Drzewiecki added: “He’s prophetic, honestly.”

Asked if the Iowa game-winner was his biggest kick, given the rivalry stakes and the Gophers winning Floyd of Rosedale at home for the first time since 2014, Drzewiecki replied, “Next one. The next one is.”

Next up, reigning defending national champion and sixth-ranked Indiana on Saturday in Bloomington, Ind.