LAKEFIELD, MINN. - As Roman Voss heads home on a late August morning after captains’ practice at Jackson County Central High School, wind turbines rise above cornfields stretching for miles along Hwy. 86.
Twenty miles from his high school, Voss pulls into his family farm, only 5 miles from the Iowa border. The nearest township has a population about 200 and is same number of miles away from downtown Minneapolis.
“Sioux Valley doesn’t even have its own address,” said Voss’ father, Rod, who grew up and went to the old high school nearby before it merged with JCC. “The township is just a 6-mile-by-6-mile area.”
A 6-4, 230-pound senior quarterback and future college tight end, Roman Voss grew up with pigs, chickens and sheep. A buck head mounted in his bedroom came from one of his annual hunting trips, events he loves as much as shooting hoops on a full-sized basketball court in his backyard.
This small township in southwestern Minnesota helped produce one of the best high school football prospects in the country, a humble farm kid with a potential NFL future who in June verbally committed to the Gophers — over 18-time national champion Alabama.
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Jackson County Central quarterback Roman Voss takes a snap in team drills during practice. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
“Not to put any pressure, but there’s a realistic chance he can play as a true freshman with the Gophers,” said Jackson County Central coach Tom Schuller, who coached the program to its first state championship in 23 years last season. “I think he’s that good.”
Gophers coach P.J. Fleck beat out Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer after both took turns visiting Voss this summer to give their best recruiting pitches. Play big-time SEC football or become a home-state hero. Voss chose the latter.
“The Gophers did a great job recruiting and with us getting to know them as people,” said Voss’ mother, Trisha. “That was pretty special.”