Ran into this. Good read...
Mitch Wishnowsky and Utah Are Setting the Pace in a New Phase of the Australian Punter Pipeline
He was a legend before he arrived in Salt Lake City, the 23-year-old freshman from the other side of the Earth. The chatter started in late 2015: Have you heard about the new Australian punter the Utes are bringing in? None of the Utah players had seen much video. The Internet yielded a head shot, at least, to those who were curious: a shock of long, straight blond hair with a face buried behind it. And a name: Mitch Wishnowsky.
At the time Utah seemed likely to take a step back on special teams. Tom Hackett, who had introduced the Pac-12 to the Aussie on-the-move style of punting, was training for the NFL draft after winning two consecutive Ray Guy Awards. (Only two others have earned the honor multiple times since its inception, in 2000.) Hackett's success seemed impossible to replicate—until the Myth of Mitch began to build. As senior wide receiver Jameson Field recalls hearing, “He’s just this stout human being, just this physical specimen that’s playing punter. He’s this Thor-looking punter who’s about to come in and run faster than all the receivers and be stronger than all the linebackers.”
When Wishnowsky arrived on campus, his appearance lived up to the legend: 6'2", 220 pounds and, yes, looks and locks that called to mind Chris Hemsworth's as the Marvel superhero. But teammates soon realized the reserved high school dropout from Perth was no star in conditioning drills. Like Hackett, Wishnowsky had spent years focusing on his leg and was unprepared for the physical demands of training for major-conference football. Thor got shin splints.
GLAY-ZEE-AH. That’s how Wishnowsky says it,glazier, a word that seems almost too elegant for American English. Glaziers install glass, and in 2008, when the 16-year-old got an offer to quit school and work for a glazing company outside Perth, he grabbed it. The job offered a stable future, the benefits were substantial and the salary enabled him to buy a house in his hometown with his best mate." style="margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px;">GLAY-ZEE-AH. That’s how Wishnowsky says it, glazier, a word that seems almost too elegant for American English. Glaziers install glass, and in 2008, when the 16-year-old got an offer to quit school and work for a glazing company outside Perth, he grabbed it. The job offered a stable future, the benefits were substantial and the salary enabled him to buy a house in his hometown with his best mate.
Problem was, Wishnowsky hated glazing.
He had always been good at Australian Rules football—a rough, fast-paced, wide-open sport also known as footy—but he had to give it up at 18 after repeatedly injuring his left shoulder. Still, he continued to play flag footy with friends, one of whom had a connection to a fledgling operation in Melbourne. Called Prokick Australia, it's run by Nathan Chapman and his business partner, John Smith. Its mission: to help strong-legged Aussie Rules players make it in American football, following in the footsteps of Pro Bowlers Darren Bennett and Mat McBriar as well as the handful of other punters who have had NFL careers.
Chapman launched Prokick in 2008, and even though he couldn’t afford training facilities—enrollees paid for their own gym memberships and sneaked onto practice fields—he didn’t accept just anyone. Players needed to be able to kick an American football at least 45 yards, with a 4.5-second hang time, to even be considered. He was looking for the continent’s strongest legs—but had no real résumé to attract them. “We’re only successful now,” Chapman says, “because we were too stupid to stop.”
Mitch Wishnowsky and Utah Are Setting the Pace in a New Phase of the Australian Punter Pipeline
He was a legend before he arrived in Salt Lake City, the 23-year-old freshman from the other side of the Earth. The chatter started in late 2015: Have you heard about the new Australian punter the Utes are bringing in? None of the Utah players had seen much video. The Internet yielded a head shot, at least, to those who were curious: a shock of long, straight blond hair with a face buried behind it. And a name: Mitch Wishnowsky.
At the time Utah seemed likely to take a step back on special teams. Tom Hackett, who had introduced the Pac-12 to the Aussie on-the-move style of punting, was training for the NFL draft after winning two consecutive Ray Guy Awards. (Only two others have earned the honor multiple times since its inception, in 2000.) Hackett's success seemed impossible to replicate—until the Myth of Mitch began to build. As senior wide receiver Jameson Field recalls hearing, “He’s just this stout human being, just this physical specimen that’s playing punter. He’s this Thor-looking punter who’s about to come in and run faster than all the receivers and be stronger than all the linebackers.”
When Wishnowsky arrived on campus, his appearance lived up to the legend: 6'2", 220 pounds and, yes, looks and locks that called to mind Chris Hemsworth's as the Marvel superhero. But teammates soon realized the reserved high school dropout from Perth was no star in conditioning drills. Like Hackett, Wishnowsky had spent years focusing on his leg and was unprepared for the physical demands of training for major-conference football. Thor got shin splints.
GLAY-ZEE-AH. That’s how Wishnowsky says it,glazier, a word that seems almost too elegant for American English. Glaziers install glass, and in 2008, when the 16-year-old got an offer to quit school and work for a glazing company outside Perth, he grabbed it. The job offered a stable future, the benefits were substantial and the salary enabled him to buy a house in his hometown with his best mate." style="margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px;">GLAY-ZEE-AH. That’s how Wishnowsky says it, glazier, a word that seems almost too elegant for American English. Glaziers install glass, and in 2008, when the 16-year-old got an offer to quit school and work for a glazing company outside Perth, he grabbed it. The job offered a stable future, the benefits were substantial and the salary enabled him to buy a house in his hometown with his best mate.
Problem was, Wishnowsky hated glazing.
He had always been good at Australian Rules football—a rough, fast-paced, wide-open sport also known as footy—but he had to give it up at 18 after repeatedly injuring his left shoulder. Still, he continued to play flag footy with friends, one of whom had a connection to a fledgling operation in Melbourne. Called Prokick Australia, it's run by Nathan Chapman and his business partner, John Smith. Its mission: to help strong-legged Aussie Rules players make it in American football, following in the footsteps of Pro Bowlers Darren Bennett and Mat McBriar as well as the handful of other punters who have had NFL careers.
Chapman launched Prokick in 2008, and even though he couldn’t afford training facilities—enrollees paid for their own gym memberships and sneaked onto practice fields—he didn’t accept just anyone. Players needed to be able to kick an American football at least 45 yards, with a 4.5-second hang time, to even be considered. He was looking for the continent’s strongest legs—but had no real résumé to attract them. “We’re only successful now,” Chapman says, “because we were too stupid to stop.”
