Michigan’s Hudson Hollenbeck is turning every punt into a powerful tribute to his late mother

For Hudson Hollenbeck, punting is about more than helping Michigan win the field position battle against opponents.

This season, the redshirt junior from Collierville, Tennessee is partnering with the University of Michigan Health Rogel Cancer Center and donating $50 every time he hits a punt of 50-plus yards or pins one inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. Hollenbeck lost his mother, Gina Hollenbeck, to lung cancer in summer 2022 and is looking to raise money and increase awareness about the disease.

Hudson said his mom, who never smoked, was diagnosed with stage 4 ALK-Positive lung cancer in October 2015 at age 38.

“That’s not ever anything easy to deal with,” Hudson told reporters Thursday. “Something about my mom is, she was a really, really hard fighter. She fought until the day she