Santoso on patriotic shirt, Vedder shout-out, long kick

Gophers redshirt freshman kicker Ryan Santoso has enjoyed a memorable few days.

His career-long 52-yard field goal proved to be the difference in the Gophers 39-38 victory against Purdue on Saturday.

The Big Ten honored Santoso as the conference special teams player of the week for his clutch kick.

As you can see from this picture, Santoso showed up for the postgame press conference wearing his favorite patriotic shirt.

This photo came from the twitter account of @CloydRivers who showed Santoso his appreciation for his display of patriotism.

Then, according to people who attended the Pearl Jam concert, singer Eddie Vedder gave Santoso a shout-out from the stage while congratulating the Gophers on the win.

Santoso talked to a few reporters after practice on Wednesday about his shirt, Vedder's comments and his long field goal.

"I think that got a little more publicity than my kick did," he said.

He said he heard about the attention from CloydRivers tweet and others. He said his sister gave him the shirt for his birthday this year.

"I like it," he said. "Great opportunities in this nation."

Santoso wears the shirt during warmups before every game. He said he also wears it occasionally to class and other places.

"I feel like I'm a pretty patriotic person," he said. "I like it. It makes me a little different."

"I love that shirt," tight end Maxx Williams said. "Big eagle on the front. What's more awesome than that?"

"It's actually kind of cool shirt," defensive tackle Cameron Botticelli said. "I would wear that. Not every day like he does. Maybe for special occasions. Fourth of July, or a party. But not every day. He loves the heck out of that shirt."

"That's his favorite shirt," receiver KJ Maye said. "I would wear it. I wouldn't wear it for style."

"I don't know if I could pull that one off," punter Peter Mortell said. "I'll leave that to Ryan."

On Vedder acknowledging his kick during his concert, Santoso seemed almost embarrassed by the attention: "It's not just me. It's the team in general."

Santoso initially thought his max range Saturday was 50 yards.

"But I got to be a little risky every now and then," he said. "[Mortell, the holder] said 52 is good. I was like, 'Alright, if you believe in me, I'll believe in me.'"