Stefen Wisniewski

Classroom

Wisniewski is on track to earn his degree in three and a half years and maintains a 3.92 GPA in secondary education, having achieved a 4.0 GPA the last three semesters. For his classroom work, Wisniewski has been honored as a first-team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American in 2009 and a second-team selection in 2008. He could become the first Penn State football student-athlete to earn three All-America honors and will also likely be a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree. Wisniewski is also a candidate for the Campbell Trophy and Penn State’s nominee for the National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Fellowship. He spent the 2009-10 academic year student teaching 10th grade English at State College Area High School, where he would arrive at school early in the morning and leave with less than 30 minutes before his position meetings began.

Character

Wisniewski has made two mission trips to the Dominican Republic, during the summer of 2009 and spending his 2010 spring break there helping underprivileged residents. In the Dec. 2009 issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids, Wisniewski was the subject of a feature story that followed him during a typical day during the 2009 season.

Community

Wisniewski is easily among the most active Penn State student-athletes in community service and he’s a candidate for the American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team. Wisniewski has participated in several community outreach services, including the Student-Athlete Advisory Board’s Autism Awareness reading program, Penn State Lift for Life, which is a fundraiser for the Kidney Cancer Association, THON Make-A-Wish program, THON Student-Athlete Pep Rally, Special Olympics State Summer Games, Habitat for Humanity, Athletic Director’s Leadership Institute, Athletes in Action and tutoring local high school students.

Competition

Several publications put Wisniewski on their preseason All-America first teams, including Sporting News, Phil Steele, Athlon and Lindy’s. Wisniewski has excelled at multiple positions along the offensive line, earning first-team All-Big Ten and third-team Collegefootballnews.com All-American honors at center in 2009 as well as second-team All-Big Ten guard in 2008. As a junior he was instrumental in Daryll Clark breaking the PSU passing yardage (3,003 yards) and single-season touchdown passes (24) records and helping Evan Royster rush for more than 1,000 yards for the second consecutive year. Wisniewski also helped the Nittany Lions rank No. 2 in Big Ten in total offense (406.9 yards per game) and No. 3 in fewest sacks allowed. He moves back to guard for his senior season.