Gophers specialists Dragan Kesich, Mark Crawford share unique bond

been liking to work with Coach leesy here early in the spring it's awesome uh he brings a different experience and different uh mindset uh that's really helping me take my game to the next level I think uh he's an awesome dude he's a big movie guy so if you want to a good movie to watch hit up coach Le he'll give you some good uh some good options what are some of the best options he's given uh he gave me uh what was that one called out of the furnace Out of the Furnace uh it's pretty good and then greyman and uh six underground yeah that was it those yeah I got to watch them still but those are some good ones that he gave me yeah let you think about last year going from being essentially reserved guy of the year before to now a big 10 kicker of the year what was what's it been like just going through that entire transition I mean it's an amazing amazing feeling uh you know it's not all just me I got to give big thanks to Crawford and Brady weeks and all the protection up front you know I always talk about like having Matthew tricket here and how big of a help he was for me in taking my game to the next level um you know it's not just me doing that that stuff and it's an awesome feeling a surreal feeling and uh hopefully we can uh back it up this year is the biggest thing you're working on then this year just consistency to try and build upon that or what have you been working on that's the biggest thing is just building consistency and also getting a lot of reps with Ryan algam you know with Brady weeks being gone now we kind of the Trifecta is kind of done so now we're building a new Trifecta so uh yeah just getting a lot of reps with uh Ryan alram and getting even more comfortable with Crawford how how do you go about building chemistry when you have a new operation just reps and Reps and Reps uh I mean I when alri get here I think this his second year here so I mean I'm pretty comfortable with the guy so it's just him getting reps in front of the team in fromont of the head coach with the protection around them just reps and Reps and Reps and that's going to help us be successful in the what goes into becoming an elite special teams member I mean I know during spring ball a lot of guys are running doing a lot of different things you guys are on the sidel on us quite a bit of time how do you improve your game uh it's during those team periods and those group periods it's kind of us being on the side getting our individual work in we get a majority of our work in pre-practice we go out like 40 45 minutes before the team does to get our our reps in but it's just staying ready and like when we have play periods when our name gets called going out there and executing to show the team that we're actually doing work we're not just chilling while they're while they're going in those team period and stuff like that what's been the biggest differences you've noticed between wer and legesi H that's a great question I love both of them you know coach L and I built a relationship through high school so like I knew coach Le um you know coach Ranger was was a great guy so I mean it's tough to pick a difference they're both great guys both great coordinators both great coaches uh I think coach Le just brings a different perspective through specialist he's worked with a lot of great Specialists so he's helping us Elevate our game in that in that sense your you operate in a lot of stressful situations your opinion what's the biggest key to having success when things are tight it's uh nerve-wracking yeah I think it's just trusting yourself trusting your training uh like I always say I trust the the operation we have and I have the utmost confidence in myself that whatever you put in front of me I can get done and I know that my teammates will support me so I mean regardless of which way it go goes I know that you know my family is going to support me I know my teammates are going to support me and if it goes wrong we can get it fixed and if it goes right then you know everybody loves it so I think it's just a big thing is just trusting yourself when you speak to people that play the game they always say that kickers have to be somewhat silly somewhat locy Goosey how would your teammates describe you uh uh silly uh that's a good question man I don't even know I think you get a bunch of different answers from a bunch of different people I mean I try to outgoing I try to be myself around everybody I mean I am myself around everybody uh I don't let the circumstances dictate my behavior uh it's kind of a thing in the specialist World Specialists are kind of weird we have a kind of weird group we have a 31-year-old and we have a a kid a 17-year-old sorry 30 and a 17-year-old coming in the fall so it's like we got a big variety we got a lot of uh personality in that group and it's it's it's a fun thing to be a part of not not many people realize that being a specialist is fun it's a it's a great time do you believe in ice in the kicker no uh no I don't believe in that I think it just gives me more time to be ready uh so say somebody calls a timeout for and a half and a game kick yeah what are you thinking about during that time because we obviously see the kickers out there just swinging the leg yeah what's going through your mind well now I mean cuz now you can't you can only call like one timeout so like I I know I'm going to have to kick that kick so like I don't know what the other guys do I think they go off to the sideline and kind of just chat but I'm just sitting there just talking to myself tell me telling myself to get ready um you know you live for those moments as a kicker as it being a big walk-off field goal like that so I think it's just I tell myself be ready this is this is your shot let's go do it in a sense do you feel like there's some form of like mental training that goes along with kicking get yourself in that type of yeah big time uh I used to read a lot of books keyword used to um I saw Sports py a lot just to help with like getting my mentals right you know going into that uh role of being the place kicker where there's like you make it you're the hero you miss it you're the villain type of thing so I think just getting your mentals right is a big part because being mentally tough as a kicker you you can miss one and then if you let that affect your next one you're going to miss again so it's all about responding how would you describe your bond with Mark uh awesome fun cool uh you know him and I recently bought a dart board we've been playing darts a lot uh it's pretty competitive in that houseold old but uh yeah it's I mean he's like a big brother you know he's 7 years older than me 8 years no yeah eight years older than me so I mean he he kind of keeps me in uh he keeps me in check uh I run a lot of ideas by him before I do it because he's seen a lot more life than I have um but yeah he helps me he helps me a lot he helps me tremendously a lot of My Success I got to give to him because you know if he doesn't get the ball down on holds you know doesn't really give me an opportunity to hit the ball so I mean I'm grateful for the bom that him and I have built and it's going to be one for the rest of my life who's a better dark play me you can ask him that question he's going to say him but if you look at the record I think it's me who has the most personality on a team out of the position groups which position group N not quarterbacks uh could be wide receivers o line maybe nah specialist it's our group our group we have yeah I would I would say specialist all right the floor is yours who's better at DS Dron Started Hot really hot I think I pulled it back with about 10 in a row for a while there but I it's probably even honestly if we look into it what's it like to rent a car pretty reasonable right now no renting for me I don't have to don't have to worry about driving too much fortunately what's the biggest difference you've noticed from Wier to leeski I mean different perspectives in terms of experience as well I think coach coach Wanger had sort of been around college football his whole life and Coach League's been in the league a little bit as well so a little bit of added experience but fundamentally for me it's pretty similar process I just want to catch the ball put on my foot and get it up there and out there just to make sure that we put the team in the best position so ultimately it's pretty it's pretty similar honestly Mark what are some of the elements of your game that you focused on improving as you go spring into the season here now that you've been around a while versatility again and consistency the the the two major ones really I mean every specialist will probably say the same thing consistency is one of the most important things um our process is sort of really down to ourselves more than anyone else I mean white outs they got to rely on the quarterback to throw them the ball and then you got you know running backs that might might have different looks all the time whereas for punting and and kicking you want to put it through the uprights and I want to put it to the sideline uh to avoid the returns so um yeah it's consistency is the big one and then obviously you want to pump up the pump up the the yards per pun and things like that all the time if you can Mark if you um after this year if you don't play at the next level uh what's next for you great question haven't thought about haven't thought about that too much at this rate but I'm unfortunate enough to be in a master's program now uh Human Resources industrial relations so um you know love love being here I love being at the school and enjoying studying I study for as long as I can and play football for as as long as I can so uh yeah I'll look to potentially go into that sort of field um should I should I not be playing any more football for sure given your age was there any hesitation about coming back for another year no no hesitation none whatsoever I I want to ride this wave as long as I can I mean I can play football for sort of this period of my life and I can't get to you know 20 years from now and be like oh I might try and go play a bit more football so um that's all always a philosophy and yeah I don't really look at the fact that I'm 30 years old too much right now what's it like being 30 years old around your teammates do they consistently remind you of that or what do you learn from them every now and then every now and then there's certainly guys that'll say hold on dad or like take it easy you've seen a little bit more but ultimately speaking I think it's it just it's just a nice sort of transition to to see guys that sort of 18 19 and then they come through to the 23 24 and I see how they develop and I mean ultimately when I first got here there was certainly a lot of connection with some of those older guys straight away which sort of newcomers don't really get so that was pretty cool um but you know they helped keep me young the guy over there Dron that just spoke before he's uh he's one of the best characters you'll ever meet and obviously that's that's really important to me to be able to match his energy because he certainly brings it do you have a unique relationship with say your Gunner because obviously you put the ball up into the air but if you can't get it down inside the five inside the 10 do do you spend maybe a little bit more time working with him and him learning how maybe the ball balances off your foot maybe a little bit different yeah it's a it's it's certainly an interesting Dynamic I mean you know whether we want to catch it on the full whether we want to you know have it roll it's it's all all depends on the circumstance and and where I put the ball cuz ultimately that'll start with me I got to put it inside the 10 for him to be able to stop it inside the 10 or the five so um yeah it's certainly something we work on it's a pretty big pre-season uh sort of ordeal like off the outside of training camp and things like that we we have to get a lot of that in because during training camp obviously everyone's working on their own thing so um that's a year-long process that we want to improve as well I don't think people notice all the time the different snapping distances how sometimes they vary how does that impact the whole operational time your process that from start to finish yeah it's it's a good question I I don't really think that you know I've considered it too much obviously it would make a difference you know when I'm at sort of whatever yardage like the closer I am the the faster the ball's going to get to me which will ultimately sort of give me more time or or change the operation time in general so um um yeah I sort of just make sure that I I I'm able to read the situation and understand the what what what's in front of me and go from there when you think back to the Bowl game with dragin trying to obviously get over the inite two-point conversion how much uh did you give him as a former rugby player but maybe we try to go through instead of trying to jump well I mean I'm sort of on his side in that if that guy's ankle wasn't there he he was in so uh it comes back down to that but you know I think honestly dagon's probably a pretty pretty good athlete for that sort of situation so I'm not I'm not I don't give him too much rubbish because uh he's got something to sayar I was in how much are you campaigning being 6'4 30 years old former rugby guy trying to get a fake pun in this year always pushing for it always pushing for it something to have up in the back pocket for sure yeah I'd love to I'd love to get involved but we'll see the circumstance takes uh and the situation takes prence say a lot of Americans may be a little bit hesitant on Australia because the bug size are they as giant as they look in all the viral videos I think I remember having this conversations you about a month ago but uh I mean it really depends where where you go I mean everyone's sort of so scared of uh the bugs and the snakes and things like that but if you're stay if you I tell people if you stay in the city like you'll probably be just fine it's pretty much the same as here I mean I mean they've got scorpions and snakes in Arizona but if you're walking down Scotsdale the the main STP of Scottsdale I'm pretty sure you're not going to run into any snakes or scorpions there or it'll be unlikely so yeah how would you describe your confidence you know going into this year compared to you know when you first got here and your ability to be consistent and make big uh punts kicks yeah yeah for sure I think with with confidence it sort of just comes back down to this time of year I always think you know one thing I've learned is probably the the time that you get outside of the season to perfect some sort of craft is is probably just as important as how you perform on the field so um understanding the fundamentals and and and getting that down pat and making sure that you know you're confident going into the season or into camp or whatever um that will go a long way to making sure that confidence remains high and fortunately there's a great bunch of guys around me and I got dran as a great as a as a great companion there and you know Ryan algam long stamping Brady weeks for a long time and then obviously got all the coaches which which really beneficial your punt unit finished fifth in the Big 10 last year what's the goal for 202 number one yeah I'd love to I mean I'm not too necessarily worried about where I rank or where I see it or whatever but certainly goals and expectations that you want to be able to meet for for your own personal standard and you know I always sort of look at it like some some guys have way more Pooch punts or going in punts which obviously affects things like numbers but ultimately speaking if we win the field position battle like my job's done and that's that's the ultimate goal there so you just spoke about the offseason and um maximizing the you guys have to perfect certain pray for you have you noticed being older that it may take your body a little bit more time to recover and how important that is at this age yeah I'm on the old man card now so I don't have to worry too much about too much running but um no it's it's I don't think I've really noticed it a whole lot but maybe in terms of things like metabolism like I see what some of the other guys eat and I'm like wow you can eat all that and still do that I'd be sort of 400b by now but now realistically speaking I great training staff great athletic staff and they take care of me and I make sure that I repay them by making sure that I'm fit and healthy any more questions