Dragan Kesich is an American

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

Early life and high school

Kesich was born and raised in

Oak Creek, Wisconsin Oak Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located in Milwaukee County, it sits on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan and is located immediately south of Milwaukee. The city is one of the fastest growing in Milwaukee County and all ...

, and attended

Oak Creek High School Oak Creek High School is a public four-year high school located in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. It is the sole high school of the Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District, and one of the largest public schools in the state. History Oak Creek High Scho ...

. In his high school career, he finished with 96% of his kickoffs which resulted in a touchback. He earned all-conference and all-region honors in 2018 and 2019 and was also a finalist for the Wisconsin Sports Awards Kicker of the Year Award in 2019. He was rated a five-star recruit and committed to play

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

as a

walk-on Walk On may refer to: Music * ''Walk On'', a 1994 album by Boston, and its title song Albums * ''Walk On'' (Boston album), 1994 * ''Walk On'' (John Hiatt album), 1995 * ''Walk On'' (Randy Johnston album), 1992 *''Walk On'', a 2007 album by ...

College career

During Kesich's true freshman season in 2020, he played in five games and finished the season with kicking off 24 times and recording 10 touchbacks for 1,501 yards with an average of 62.5 yards per game. During the 2021 season, he played in 12 games while serving as the team's kickoff specialist. He finished the season with recording 42 touchbacks on 66 kickoffs for 4,197 yards, with an average of 63.6% yards per games. During the 2022 season, he played in all 13 games and finished the season with kicking off 71 times for 4,586 yards, tying for the first in the nation with an average of 64.6 yards per game. He also recorded 59 touchbacks ranking third in the nation with an 83.1% touchback success rate. During the 2023 season, he played in 12 games and kicked off 56 times for 3,622 yards and recorded 47 touchbacks for an average of 64.7 yards per game. He was named on the first-team All-Big and the Bakken-Anderson Big Ten Kicker of the Year.

Personal life

Kesich is of Serbian heritage and is a relative of

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

hockey player,

Milan Lucic Milan Lucic (; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played major junior hockey with the Vancouver Giants in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for three seas ...

References

External links

*
Minnesota Golden Gophers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kesich, Dragan Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Players of American football from Wisconsin People from Oak Creek, Wisconsin American football placekickers Minnesota Golden Gophers football players