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Texas Tech football hopes winning follows Cole Wisniewski to town
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- Texas Tech football hopes winning follows Cole Wisniewski to town
The NCAA presents an Elite 90 award to the athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average competing at the finals site in each of its 90 national championships.
Academically speaking, it's a big deal to win an Elite 90 once. Cole Wisniewski , a new safety on the Texas Tech football team, did it twice during his time with FCS power North Dakota State .
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"The last B I had was probably eighth grade, maybe," Wisniewski said this week. "Both my parents are teachers. I think my mom told me when I was in like sixth or seventh grade, she wished she took school more serious."
Wisniewski remembers thinking: I haven't had a B in a while. I may as well keep it up.
"Actually may get one this semester, unfortunately," he said. "I missed having an assignment the first week, so that was unfortunate."
Shooting for strength in numbers: What DBs are standing out in Texas Tech football spring practice?
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Wisniewski (pronounced "Wiss-NESS-skee") transferred to Tech over the winter, already armed with degrees in business administration and marketing, as well as a glittering football resume. He was a consensus FCS first-team All-American in 2023 after making a team-high 92 tackles and tying a Missouri Valley Conference record with eight interceptions. Given his combination of smarts and playmaking, the Red Raiders are expecting him to contribute a lot in a hurry.
Texas Tech's Cole Wisniewski goes through a drill during spring practice, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, at the Womble Football Center.
"Honestly, it's just whatever they ask of me," said Wisniewski, who's listed at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds. "I would love to put up the same numbers I put up at NDSU and do the same things. I guess that would be my expectation for myself, but just do the role that they ask me to do and execute in every way, the same way."
Tech, next-to-last in the FBS in pass defense last season, went for a quick fix by signing five defensive backs out of the NCAA transfer portal. Four are cornerbacks with Wisniewski the lone safety. He's projected at boundary safety, the position vacated by 2024 senior C.J. Baskerville.
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"I think he's earned everybody's respect, just the way he approaches things and the way that he works," Tech safeties coach Rob Greene said. "And then he's been around great coaches and a great program where they have high standards. Just having another person there to reinforce that with what we're already doing here, I think is a big deal. He just earns so much respect by how he approaches everything."
Wisniewski grew up a Wisconsin Badgers fan in Sparta, Wisconsin, but generated little recruiting traction with Big Ten schools. He landed at one of the next best places. North Dakota State won three national championships in the NCAA college division from 1965-69, five in Division II from 1983-90 and 10 in the FCS from 2011-24.
Wisniewski spent five seasons in Fargo, the first three as a linebacker. He was on Bison teams that won it all in 2021 and 2024 and lost in the championship game in 2023.
However, his role last season was reduced to wearing a headset and relaying information from coaches in the press box to personnel on the field. A foot injury he suffered in a 2023 FCS semifinal required surgery and sidelined him for 2024.
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Wisniewski's been careful so far not to walk in acting like a big shot, preferring to gain teammates' trust.
"You're going to be a sixth-year guy, but also a rookie at the same time in the program," he said. "First time transferring, didn't really know what to expect. I think it's just going in and making sure the guys know that I care about them. I'm trying to be here and be the best teammate as well. I'm not just here to take a role."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football hopes winning follows Cole Wisniewski to town
