Lakeville North coach Brian Vossen remembers challenging Jerry Kill on his decision not to offer a football scholarship to former Panthers linebacker Jesse Cardenas, graduated in June.
A week later, Kill showed up at the high school.
"He sat with me and Jesse in our athletic office for about an hour and explained where he was at," Vossen said. "I was pretty impressed he took the time to do that."
Burnsville coach Tyler Krebs said there was criticism that past Gophers coaches weren't as connected to the local high school football programs. That hasn't been the case with Kill and his staff.