Mitch Wishnowsky

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Mitch Wishnowsky
Mitch Wishnowsky 2020.jpg
Wishnowsky with the San Francisco 49ers in 2020
Profile
Position Punter
Personal information
Born (1992-03-03) 3 March 1992 (age 33)
Gosnells, Western Australia, Australia
Height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High school Lumen Christi (Martin, Western Australia)
College
NFL draft 2019: 4th round, 110th overall pick
Career history
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Awards and highlights
Career NFL statistics as of 2024
Punts 310
Punting yards14,142
Punting average45.6
Longest punt74
Inside 20138
Points scored5
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Mitchell Wishnowsky (born 3 March 1992) is an Australian professional American football punter. Wishnowsky played college football for the Santa Barbara City Vaqueros and Utah Utes, where he won the Ray Guy Award and was a unanimous All-American in 2016. He was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL draft.

Contents

Early life

Wishnowsky was born on 3 March 1992 in Gosnells, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth. [1] [2] He was a student of Lumen Christi College from 2005 to 2009. He grew up playing Australian rules football, but was forced to give up the sport at age 18 due to repeated shoulder injuries. He played for Perth in the WAFL Reserves. By that time, he had dropped out of secondary school at age 16 to become a glazier.

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. [3]

College career

He played college football for the Santa Barbara City Vaqueros and Utah Utes. He won the Ray Guy Award and was a unanimous All-American in 2016, finishing second in FBS in punting average (47.7 yards) and first in punts downed inside the opponent's 10-yard line (17). [4] [5] His 2017 season was only slightly less successful, with a 43.9-yard punting average and 10 punts downed inside the 10. [3] [6]

Statistics

YearSchoolConfClassPosGPunting
PuntsYdsAvg
2016 Utah Pac-12 SOP13643,05347.7
2017 Utah Pac-12 JRP13522,28243.9
2018 Utah Pac-12 SRP14592,66945.2
Career Utah401758,00445.7

Professional career

Pre-draft measurables
HeightWeightArm lengthHand span 40-yard dash 10-yard split20-yard split 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 s1.62 s2.72 s32.5 in
(0.83 m)		9 ft 9 in
(2.97 m)
All values from NFL Combine [7] [8] [9]

San Francisco 49ers

Wishnowsky was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth round (110th overall) of the 2019 NFL draft. [10] He was the first of two punters to be selected that year. [11] Wishnowsky signed a four-year contract with the 49ers on 30 April 2019. [12] In the ninth week, 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 National Football Conference (NFC) Special Teams Player of the Week. [13] As a rookie, he finished with 52 punts for a 44.87 average. [14] Wishnowsky reached Super Bowl LIV as a rookie. However, the 49ers lost 31–20 to the Kansas City Chiefs as Wishnowsky punted twice. [15]

In the 2020 season, Wishnowsky had 66 punts for a 46.86 average. [16] In the second week of the 2021 season, Wishnowsky averaged 45.2 yards per punt with three landing inside the 20 and one inside the five-yard line, earning NFC Special Teams Player of the Week. [17] Due to an injury to Robbie Gould, Wishnowsky took over field goal and extra point kicking duties for a 3 October 2021 game versus the Seattle Seahawks. Wishnowsky made one out of two extra points and missed a 41-yard field goal. [18] Wishnowsky is the first Australian to score a point in an NFL game. [19] In the 2021 season, he had 57 punts for a 45.02 average. [20]

On 16 September 2022, Wishnowsky signed a four-year, $13 million contract extension with the 49ers. [21] In the 2022 season, he had 61 punts for a 43.87 average. [22] On 25 July 2023, Wishnowsky was placed on the active/non-football injury list. [23] In the 2023 season, he had 52 punts for a 47.69 average. [24]

In week 5 of the 2024 season versus the Arizona Cardinals, as 49ers' kicker Jake Moody was injured in a kickoff, Wishnowsky took over the kicking duties and made the first field goal of his career, which was a 26-yard kick. [25] On 16 November 2024, Wishnowsky was placed on injured reserve. [26] In the 2024 season, he had 22 punts for a 45.18 average. [27] On May 28, 2025, Wishnowsky was released by the 49ers. [28]

Washington Commanders

On September 10, 2025, Wishnowsky signed with the practice squad of the Washington Commanders as contingency for Tress Way, who was dealing with a back injury. [29] Way remained healthy for the team's Week 2 game against the Green Bay Packers, and Wishnowsky was released by the Commanders on September 13. [30]

Personal life

Wishnowsky and his wife Maddie have a daughter. [31]

References

  1. ↑ Clemmons, Anna Katherine (17 January 2020). "49ers' Mitch Wishnowsky would've slept on a bathroom floor to be an NFL punter". ESPN . Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  2. ↑ Connor, Fiona (22 January 2020). "Mitch Wishnowsky's Super Bowl moment with 49ers: Kiwi parents 'unbelievably proud'". Newshub . Mediaworks TV. Archived from the original on 23 January 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  3. 1 2 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.
  4. ↑ Goon, Kyle (8 December 2016). "Mitch Wishnowsky wins Utah's third straight Ray Guy Award". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 18 December 2016. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  5. ↑ Goon, Kyle (14 December 2016). "Mitch Wishnowsky earns unanimous consensus All-American status". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 18 December 2016. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  6. ↑ "Mitch Wishnowsky College Stats". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  7. ↑ "Mitch Wishnowsky Draft and Combine Prospect Profile". NFL.com. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  8. ↑ "2019 Draft Scout Mitch Wishnowsky, Utah NFL Draft Scout College Football Profile". draftscout.com. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  9. ↑ "Mitch Wishnowsky 2019 NFL Draft Profile". insider.espn.com. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  10. ↑ Fann, Joe (27 April 2019). "49ers Select P Mitch Wishnowsky with No. 110 Pick in 2019 NFL Draft". 49ers.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  11. ↑ "2019 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  12. ↑ "49ers Sign P Mitch Wishnowky". 49ers.com. 30 April 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  13. ↑ Bergman, Jeremy (6 November 2019). "Lamar Jackson, Russell Wilson among Players of the Week". NFL.com. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  14. ↑ "Mitch Wishnowsky 2019 Game Log". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  15. ↑ "Super Bowl LIV - San Francisco 49ers vs. Kansas City Chiefs - February 2nd, 2020". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  16. ↑ "Mitch Wishnowsky 2020 Game Log". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  17. ↑ Gordon, Grant (22 September 2021). "Titans RB Derrick Henry, Cardinals QB Kyler Murray among NFL Players of the Week". NFL.com. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  18. ↑ Alper, Josh (3 October 2021). "Robbie Gould out, Mitch Wishnowsky misses FG for 49ers". NBC Sports. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  19. ↑ Laws, Gerard (4 October 2021). "Aussie punter Wishnowsky makes NFL history in bizarre circumstances". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  20. ↑ "Mitch Wishnowsky 2021 Game Log". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  21. ↑ Smith, Coral (16 September 2022). "49ers sign punter Mitch Wishnowsky to four-year extension worth up to $13 million". NFL.com. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  22. ↑ "Mitch Wishnowsky 2022 Game Log". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  23. ↑ "49ers Place Mitch Wishnowsky on Active/Non-Football Injury List; Sign Cornerback". 49ers.com. 25 July 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  24. ↑ "Mitch Wishnowsky 2023 Game Log". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  25. ↑ Ricketson, Teddy (8 October 2024). "Who is the 49ers' kicker? Jake Moody injury forces San Francisco to use punter Mitch Wishnowsky vs. Cardinals". Sporting News . Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  26. ↑ "Yetur Gross-Matos Activated from IR, Luter Jr. & Wishnowsky Placed on IR, Other Moves Ahead of #SEAvsSF". 49ers.com. 16 November 2024. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
  27. ↑ "Mitch Wishnowsky 2024 Game Log". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  28. ↑ "49ers Sign P Thomas Morstead and LB Chazz Surratt". 49ers.com. 28 May 2025. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
  29. ↑ Selby, Zach. "Commanders sign P Mitch Wishnowsky to practice squad". Commanders.com. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  30. ↑ Grindley, Wyatt. "Commanders Make Two Practice Squad Moves". NFL Trade Rumors. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  31. ↑ O'Donoghue, Craig (3 February 2024). "San Francisco 49ers punter Mitch Wishnowsky talks about the NFL Super Bowl, going undetected in WA". The West Australian . Archived from the original on 3 February 2024.


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