47 Days Until Gopher Football; Meet Jacob Herbers

Just 47 days until the Gophers are stomping the Beavers on a Thursday night!

Where will Jacob Herbers be? Four months ago it was a serious possibility he would be the team's starting punter. But who knew chasing the starting punting job would be such a competitive affair? Herbers had his work cut out for him on day one when he rolled on to campus and was immediately redshirted, which was expected considering Peter Mortell was in tow.

But 2016 was a little less solidified in the program's punting game. And it wasn't until May that it was reported that Ryan Santoso, and not Herbers, would take over the team's punting duties. That's a tough break for Herbers, who had some good accolades coming out of high school. He was an All-State punter in 2014 at Lakeview High School in Michigan, averaging 41 yards on 34 punts as a senior and was ranked as the No. 20 punter in the nation by Kohl's Kicking (America's authority on kicking!). Herbers originally had a scholarship offer from the University of Buffalo, but chose to come to Minnesota as a preferred walk-on.

Whether or not Herbers has a significant role in the team's punting game remains to be seen, but at the very least he appears to have a role on the Gopher Specialists Twitter account. Though will we ever really know for sure?