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University of Minnesota Athletics
Carpenter Represents Gophers at B1G Championship
12/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
Emmit Carpenter represented the University of Minnesota Gophers with the utmost class down in Indianapolis, Ind., for the Big Ten Championship game this weekend. He was there being honored for winning the Big Ten's Bakken-Andersen Kicker of the Year award.
Carpenter flew down with his family and had a full day of activities. He attended Big Ten's Fan Fest when he first arrived on Saturday morning making multiple media appearances. He was a guest on the BTN Tailgate show as they previewed the championship match. You can also catch him Wednesday evening on the Big Ten Network's Sports Lite with Mike Hall.
Emmit giving some tips to a future Big Ten Kicker of the Year. If you have any questions for @Mit_Carp through the day send them this way! pic.twitter.com/UbuS2X8JgG
- Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) December 3, 2016
After his busy morning Carpenter was able to kick back in style with a VIP pass to the Big Ten's pregame hospitality party. From there he traveled to the game where he was honored on the field with Big Ten wide receiver of the year Austin Carr out of Northwestern. He also had the pleasure of hanging out with some special people.
Special moment hanging out with the Sam Foltz and Mike Sadler families before the game this evening. pic.twitter.com/boeKfHaNQb
- Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) December 4, 2016
We had the opportunity to sit down with Emmit during the trip to reflect on the season and get an inside look at the whole experience.
Gopher Sports: This was your first year seeing the field as a collegiate kicker. When you look back on it what does this season mean to you?
Emmit Carpenter: Obviously being here this weekend means an awful lot. I would not be here without the guys back in Minnesota. Especially the other specialists in particular Payton Jordahl and Jacob Herbers. They did a really good job helping me have success this year so I have to give a lot of thanks to them.
Of course a lot of thanks to my friends and family supporting me and the coaches. It was a fun year. I know a lot of guys on the team had fun playing together. We still have one more game left so we are enjoying ourselves this weekend and celebrating the fun season but we have to get back to work this week and get ready for the bowl game.
GS: You were asked today how long you have known you wanted to be a college kicker. Now suddenly you are a kicker of the year. Can you talk about that progression?
EC: Just a few minutes ago I was thinking back to my junior and senior year in high school. I would spend a lot of time thinking about where I would end up playing in college and then once I got to Minnesota I spent a lot of time thinking of what my career would look like. All of a sudden here we are. It is a cool full circle moment to see hard work come to light and I am enjoying every second of the weekend here.
GS: When you found out you won did you realize you would be going to Indianapolis and get the chance to experience this weekend?
EC: I knew that the winner would be going because of Pete Mortell winning a few years back and he told me it was an incredible experience. Now I definitely know what he was talking about because we are having a ton of fun here.
While down on the field Carpenter had a big smile on his face as he looked out onto the field. "The only thing that could make this better is if we were here playing in this game," he said.
With all he has accomplished in a short amount of the time the young kicker may just experience that moment someday.
Go inside the numbers of Carpenter's special season here.
