Special Teams Coordinator Richard Hightower Press Conference

Special Teams Coordinator Richard Hightower
Press Conference – December 29, 2021
San Francisco 49ers
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With the P Mitch Wishnowsky situation, how much can you game plan or how does it affect your game plan not having him during the week, but knowing he potentially could be back and things that maybe you want to do? How does that maybe change things for you this week?
“Yeah, not much. Mitch has been with us, you know, going on three years now, so he knows the system. He knows everything that we do. And he’s in the zoom meetings. We went zoom today and he’s been in all the meetings by zoom. So he’s locked in. He’s good to go. He’s ready to go in terms of a mental standpoint. I don’t think it’ll affect the game plan much.”

Did you guys make a move at the punter position to have someone ready to go in case Mitch isn’t available? Who is it and why did that person get selected?
“We made a move with [P] Colby Wadman. He is on the practice squad and we like him because he has game experience. He has a good leg. He’s done well in the league. He’s started 28 games. Really good quality punter with experience. We’ve actually played him twice, whether it be regular season or preseason. And then we were in camp with him at Denver, so got a chance to be around him and really see him up close and personal for a while. But he’s done well in those two games. He’s punted in this stadium before and he’s a pro’s pro and he’s got a good reputation.”

Mitch obviously does a lot for you guys. And here we are with two weeks left in the season. Where is he as far as his leg and whether that’s suffered fatigue at this stage and is that a concern heading into the rest of the year?
“No concern with Mitch. You guys all know how we all feel about Mitch. He’s a pro and he’ll be ready to go if he’s available. But he’s one of those guys where mentally, nothing really bothers him. He’s a stud in that way. So if he ever has a bad play, he always bounces back. If he has a good play, then he tries to have a better play. So I think he’ll be fine.”