P.J. Fleck Surprises Player With Scholarship Via T-Shirt Cannon

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — University of Minnesota football coach P.J. Fleck lived up to his reputation as an enterprising and energetic person when he surprised Gophers kicking specialist Justin Juenemann with a scholarship Wednesday.

In front of a room full of his players, Fleck introduced Kyle, a patient at University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital, and asked him who his favorite player was. Kyle said it was Juenemann because he would regularly visit the hospital.

At that point Fleck armed Kyle with a loaded T-shirt cannon and told him to shoot it at Juenemann. Kyle aimed from point-blank range and fired.

Juenemann snagged the T-shirt out of mid-air and read the message on the shirt, which said, "Justin, congrats on earning a scholarship!" The team erupted into cheers.

Juenemann later surprised his mom with the news while on a video call. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Minnesota Patch, click here to find your local Minnesota Patch. Also, follow us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

"I’ve never seen anybody serve and give more than that guy, who is not a star player." Fleck said of Juenemann. "He could easily just not do it and nobody would ever say anything. You’re sitting here looking at two examples...of what our culture can do."

According to his player bio, Juenemann is from Phillipsburg, Kansas and has yet to see game action with the Gophers since walking on in 2013.

Watch the entire moment below:

Images via YouTube