Minnesota Gophers Kicker Takes Home Big Ten Weekly Honor

The Minnesota Gophers football team won their fourth consecutive game on Saturday, over the No. 24 ranked Illinois Fighting Illini. While the victory didn’t lead to a debut in either top 25 polls, it did bring in a weekly honor for kicker Dragan Kesich, who was announced as Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday.

Minnesota Gophers kicker Dragan Kesich win Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week

To earn the nod, Kesich went 4-for-4, hitting from 20, 38, 45 and 46 yards. He also went 2-for-2 on extra point attempts. After a difficult start to the season, it was the exact type of performance the 2023 Big Ten kicker of the Year needed to get back on track.

Dragan Kesich, the reigning B1G kicker of the year, didn't miss in Week 10 🙌

📍@ifs #PlayerOfTheWeek pic.twitter.com/MNQQIamNOw

— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) November 4, 2024

Last year, Kesich earned B1G Kicker of the Year by going 23 of 27. That’s 85.2%, before you look at his 29 of 29 extra points. In total, Dragan Kesich scored 96 points for the Minnesota Golden Gophers in 2023… but that has not been the case in 2024.

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In fact, Dragan has already missed more field goals this season (6), then he did all of last year. After his performance on Saturday, Kesich is now 13 of 19 in 2024, good for 68.4%. If Minnesota wants to have any chance of going undefeated in their final three games, they will need Kesich to be damn-near perfect from here on out.