Minnesota's late-arriving kicker Luke Drzewiecki quickly made a new home and a strong impression

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Luke Drzewiecki spotted quarterback Drake Lindsey dining alone in Minnesota's training facility the day before the Gophers' game against rival Iowa and pulled up a chair, taking another chance to bond with a teammate during his whirlwind final college season.

“I told him he was going to make a game-winner,” Lindsey said, reflecting on his remarkable prescience after the 13-10 victory over the Hawkeyes.

Drzewiecki has only been with the Gophers for two months, and the fifth-year kicker will be gone from the program in just a few more. But he has made the most of this unexpected experience, one that was sparked by a court ruling and began in earnest with a FaceTime call.

Gophers coach P.J. Fleck was on the other end, close to midnight about midway through August. Fleck turned to general manager Gerrit Chernoff and said, “Boy, recruiting's really changed.”

Drzewiecki, a native of Michigan who spent his first four seasons at New Mexico, was sold on the opportunity and boarded a flight to Minnesota the following day. He started practicing with the team immediately and, once all the paperwork was in good shape, made his Gophers debut on Sept. 12 for their second game.

Near the end of training camp, the program has a custom of players in their final year giving a speech about their memories and perspectives. Drzewiecki chimed in after all the other seniors had spoken, a moment of confidence and vulnerability that made Fleck and his staff take notice.

“Luke raises his hand and comes down and stands in front of the entire team and says, ’Listen guys, I don’t know you. You don’t know me. I might be your kicker, so I figured you’d want to know a little bit about me,” Fleck said. “For five minutes he just talked about his life, and he’s not a big talker.”

When a federal judge in Denver ruled on July 31 that athletes from the 2022 high school class were eligible for a fifth year , after the NCAA previously excluded that class from the new “five-for-five” rule that was designed to add clarity and fairness to college sports, an appeals court injunction put thousands of athletes like Drzewiecki back in the lurch.

The federal ruling from Denver was clarified three days later to exclude athletes who’d already signed professional contracts, which prompted a countersuit filed in Louisiana state court that gave those athletes a temporary restraining order . Drzewiecki, who was in rookie minicamp with the Baltimore Ravens this spring, was part of that group.

Drzewiecki entered the transfer portal and picked Minnesota over three other programs, following special teams coordinator Daniel Da Prato, who’d jumped from the Lobos to Gophers this offseason.

“I’m just so grateful he thought to still reach out to me and want to bring me here, and I get the opportunity to play with all these great young men, to be a part of that program and that culture that coach Fleck builds,” Drzewiecki said. “It’s more than football. You get to learn life lessons. You get to be a better person and a better human being just for being here.”

Drzewiecki was a walk-on at New Mexico before wowing Da Prato and the rest of the coaching staff during 2025 spring practices, and a scholarship ensued.

“He had a great year and then moved on. He was a senior. It’s over, and then all of a sudden out of left field maybe it’s not over,” Da Prato said.

Drzewiecki, the only player in the Big Ten who has not missed a kick this season, had an extra point and two field goals against the 15th-ranked Hawkeyes, including a 46-yarder as time expired to give the Gophers possession of the Floyd of Rosedale bronze pig trophy for just the second time in 10 years under Fleck.

Drzewiecki, who has made 23 consecutive field goals dating to last season with the Lobos for the longest active streak in the FBS, was selected as the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time. He has made six kicks this year from 40-plus yards, including a 51-yarder in a 27-24 win at Washington, and his 12 straight field goals for the Gophers is four short of the program record set by Dan Nystrom in 2002.

“After kicks, he’s just so calm,” Lindsey said. “It’s crazy how people can step onto a football team and have such a big impact in the locker room and on the field as well.”

Drzewiecki has relished learning the history behind Minnesota's rivalry trophies, with the Gophers currently holding the hardware for beating Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin all at once for the first time since 1978. Getting to know teammates in his short time here has been even more rewarding.

“I just try to get around everybody as much as I can,” he said. “I see somebody sitting alone and I go sit with them and reach out.”

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here , visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here