Mitch’s long way to the top
AUSTRALIAN punter Mitch Wishnowsky’s journey to Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium for the Super Bowl has been long, winding and full of obstacles.
The 27-year-old from Perth could argue no player in Sunday’s (9.30am today AEST) clash between his San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, or in the previous 53 Super Bowls, has travelled so far.
“It all started about seven years ago,” said Wishnowsky.
Wishnowsky quit Perth’s Lumen Christi College at 16, became an apprentice glazier and hoped for a professional soccer or AFL career but injuries took their toll on his 188cm tall body.
In 2013, he signed up to a recreational football league. It’s where Craig Wilson, one of American football’s leading figures in Australia, saw him punt a football.
Word and a small video got back to John Smith and Nathan Chapman, who run the hugely successful Melbournebased Prokick Australia punting academy.
“It was like watching a horse trying to kick it’s way out of a horse box,” Smith said. “The power was immense.” Smith called Wishnowsky and invited him Melbourne, where he impressed at Prokick.
“It was pretty apparent a few weeks in we had something really special,” Smith said.
It still was not an easy path to an elite US university.
Wishnowsky’s had to study at California’s Santa Barbara City junior college for two years to build up his grades. A scholarship at the University of Utah followed. There he was an instant success.
He won the Ray Guy Award for college football’s best punter in 2016 and last year, after impressing scouts with his punting and 40-yard dash time of 4.63 seconds, was snapped up by the 49ers in the fourth round of the draft.
The time was the fastest by a punter since 2003 and quicker than elite wide receiver Jarvis Landry.