How does Mitch Wishnowsky one-up himself?
“Tough,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said.
Make no mistake: Utah’s Australian punter is determined to do so, despite winning the 2016 Ray Guy Award, a designation given to the nation’s best punter in college football. The 25-year-old junior, who hails from Perth, has been focused on diversifying his punting arsenal this offseason.
“I’ve been working on a lot of spirals,” Wishnowsky said. “I’d like to show a bit of versatility, have the opposition guessing a little more, whether it will be just a tight spiral, rugby [style] or whatever we do, like to show a bit more.”
Wishnowsky, like fellow Aussie and Ray Guy Award-winner Tom Hackett before him, continued the tradition of star Ute rugby-style punters. Wishnowsky paced Utah to a No. 1 national ranking in net punting (44.90) in his first year at Utah and ranked second in the nation in punt average (48.0). Wishnowsky also led the country in punts of 50-plus yards (28 total) and punts inside the 20-yard line (34).
During fall camp, Whittingham said Wishnowsky’s leg is only showing off more power. Wishnowsky recently had six punts in a row of 5.2 seconds worth of hang-time, Whittingham said. A 5.5-second kick, Whittingham explained, is the “barometer of a phenomenal kick.”
Wishnowsky has also drilled a punt that hung for 5.6 seconds.
“If there’s one thing he’d like to improve on is last year he was about 70-30 ratio rugby to traditional punt,” Whittingham said. “He’d like to get a little more traditional punts in, but he’s gotta be as efficient there as he is in the rugby.”
The two held a meeting prior to the start of fall camp to discuss adding to Wishnowsky’s repertoire, which both said should help his aim to potentially reach the next level.
“My biggest punt is a spiral, not a rugby, so I feel like for my best punts, I’ll be spiraling it,” he said. “It just opens up more potential.”
The Aussie punter was recently named one of Utah’s six team captains near the conclusion of fall camp. It came as a bit of a surprise, Wishnowsky admitted.
“I‘m more of a sort of a quiet bloke,” he said. “I’m not the most vocal guy. I just try and do my job.”
Utes relying on young Falemaka
As Utah’s two senior tight ends remained sidelined due to injury, the Utes must rely on a redshirt freshman tight end to help fill the void. Bapa Falemaka, who attended nearby Judge Memorial, has been Utah’s primary tight end while seniors Harrison Handley and Siale Fakailoatonga are on the mend.
“He’s got tremendous talent and ability,” Utah tight ends coach Fred Whittingham Jr. said. “There’s no excuses to be made for being a freshman or anything else. You’re here on scholarship, you’ve been instructed on what to do and how to do it, so you better go out there and do it.”
As for the freshman’s favorite part of playing tight end?
“Shoot,” Falemaka said, “getting the ball, being able to make plays, score touchdowns.”
Odds and ends
The front-five has been cemented. Just depends now on who plays where. Utah football announced Monday its starting five offensive linemen group: Jackson Barton, Salesi Uhatafe, Lo Falemaka, Jordan Agasiva and Darrin Paulo. It’s unclear, however, where Uhatafe and Paulo will line up as both are considered options at the left guard and right tackle position. … The kicker competition continues as freshman Chayden Johnston and senior Matt Gay remain neck-and-neck for the starting place-kicker role. … Utah announces the addition of nine new walk-on players Monday including locals such as Spanish Fork’s Jason Money and Roy High’s Matty Matautia.
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