Mitch Wishnowsky

Mitch Wishnowsky (born 3 March 1992) is an Australian professional American football punter for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft after a college career with the University of Utah, where he won the Ray Guy Award and was a unanimous All-American as a sophomore in 2016.[1][2] He was unanimously named to the College Football All-America Team as a result of his successful sophomore season.

Mitch Wishnowsky
Wishnowsky in 2019
No. 6 – San Francisco 49ers
Position:Punter
Personal information
Born: (1992-03-03) 3 March 1992
Gosnells, Western Australia
Height:6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight:220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High school:Perth (WA) Lumen Christi College
College:Utah
NFL Draft:2019 / Round: 4 / Pick: 110
Career history
Roster status:Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of 2020
Punts:118
Punting yards:5,426
Average punt:46.0
Inside 20:48
Player stats at NFL.com

Early life

Born to New Zealand parents from Hawke's Bay,[3] Wishnowsky had grown up playing Australian rules football, but was forced to give up the sport at age 18 due to repeated shoulder injuries. By that time, he had dropped out of secondary school at age 16 to become a glazier. While the work paid well enough for him to purchase a house in his hometown near Perth along with his best friend, he grew to hate the job and sought another career path. Although no longer playing full-contact Australian rules, he continued to play a flag version of the sport alongside several friends, one of whom had a connection to Prokick Australia, a training centre in Melbourne that converts Australian rules players into gridiron football punters. He left his job and moved across the country in 2013 to enroll in Prokick, spending a year there. By that time, Utah had brought in earlier Prokick graduate Tom Hackett, and were pleased enough with him that they reached an agreement with Prokick director Nathan Chapman to leave a scholarship open for Wishnowsky once Hackett's Utah career ended after the 2015 season. Since Wishnowsky needed time to secure NCAA eligibility, he enrolled in and punted for Santa Barbara City College in 2014, and redshirted in 2015, remaining in Santa Barbara to complete his associate degree and conserve NCAA eligibility.[4]

College career

During his Ray Guy Award-winning season in 2016, he was second in Division I FBS in punting average (47.7 yards) and first in punts downed inside the opponent's 10-yard line (17). His 2017 season was only slightly less successful, with a 43.9-yard punting average and 10 punts downed inside the 10.[4][5]

Collegiate statistics
Mitch Wishnowsky Punting
Year School Conf Class Pos G Punts Yds Avg
2016 Utah Pac-12 SO P 13 64 3,053 47.7
2017 Utah Pac-12 JR P 13 52 2,282 43.9
2018 Utah Pac-12 SR P 14 59 2,669 45.2
Career Utah 40 175 8,004 45.7

Professional career
Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight Arm length Hand size 40-yard dash 10-yard split 20-yard split 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump
6 ft 2 1⁄8 in
(1.88 m)		 218 lb
(99 kg)		 31 1⁄4 in
(0.79 m)		 9 1⁄4 in
(0.23 m)		 4.63 s 32.5 in
(0.83 m)		 9 ft 9 in
(2.97 m)
All values from NFL Combine[6]

San Francisco 49ers

Wishnowsky was drafted in the fourth round (110th overall) of the 2019 NFL Draft.[7] He was the first of two punters to be selected that year.[8] Wishnowsky signed a four-year contract with the 49ers on 30 April 2019.[9] In Week 9, Wishnowsky landed five punts inside the 20-yard line with a long of 50 yards in a 28-25 win over the Arizona Cardinals, earning him NFC Special Teams Player of the Week.[10] Wishnowsky reached Super Bowl LIV as a rookie. However, the 49ers lost 31-20 to the Kansas City Chiefs as Wishnowsky punted twice.

References
  1. Goon, Kyle (8 December 2016). "Mitch Wishnowsky wins Utah's third straight Ray Guy Award". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  2. Goon, Kyle (14 December 2016). "Mitch Wishnowsky earns unanimous consensus All-American status". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  3. Connor, Fiona (22 January 2020). "Mitch Wishnowsky's Super Bowl moment with 49ers: Kiwi parents 'unbelievably proud'". Newshub. Mediaworks TV. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  4. Niesen, Joan (16 August 2018). "Mitch Wishnowsky and Utah Are Setting the Pace in a New Phase of the Australian Punter Pipeline". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  5. "Mitch Wishnowsky College Stats". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  6. "Mitch Wishnowsky Combine Profile". NFL.com. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  7. Fann, Joe (27 April 2019). "49ers Select P Mitch Wishnowsky with No. 110 Pick in 2019 NFL Draft". 49ers.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  8. "2019 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  9. "49ers Sign P Mitch Wishnowky". 49ers.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  10. Bergman, Jeremy (6 November 2019). "Lamar Jackson, Russell Wilson among Players of the Week". NFL.com.
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