High school football coach John Nowak has received letters the past few weeks from the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders. He has visited with the Seattle Seahawks.
The NFL teams are doing background checks on Gophers punter Peter Mortell, who was a "squirrelly" freshman when he walked into Nowak's weight room at Notre Dame Academy in Green Bay, Wis., in 2007.
When Nowak looked at the letters, he paused.
"I just sat in my office," he said, "and thought for a bit about where he has come from."
NFL teams know Mortell has a strong right leg; the Gophers' fifth-year senior ranks 20th in the nation with a 45.