Wauconda's Wisniewski headed for Wyoming

Ever since his junior year, when he was smashing school rushing records and carrying the football more than two dozen times a night, Brad Wisniewski was being asked the question.

"Where are you going to play in college?"

Everyone wanted to know. Seemingly every day the rugged running back was asked the same question.

"It was horrible," Wisniewski said. "People I didn't even know (would ask)."

What made it tough for Wisniewski was that had no idea where he would wind up playing college ball. When he graduated from Wauconda last month, after rushing for more than 4,200 yards in three varsity seasons, the fullback still didn't have an answer for his fans.

Now he does.

The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Wisniewski has committed to play football and continue his education at the University of Wyoming, which competes at the NCAA Division I-A level. Head coach Joe Glenn's Cowboys finished 5-7, including 2-6 in the Mountain West Conference, in 2007.

"It's so much of a relief," said Wisniewski, who, frustrated with the recruiting process and even a little burned out, too, considered not playing football in college.

Despite rushing for a school-record 1,735 yards as a junior and 1,602 as a senior, Wisniewski was not heavily recruited by big schools. That might have been due, in part, to his grades being "not what most of (recruiters) wanted," he said. He considered playing for the College of DuPage, before Wyoming contacted him late in his senior year.

The Cowboys' staff had expressed interest in Wisniewski his junior year but didn't keep in contact with him.

Wisniewski and his parents, Kevin and Sharon, drove to Wyoming's Laramie campus late last month for a two-day orientation and after the first day, Wisniewski made his commitment.

"I really liked it," he said. "Going out there, I had no idea what to expect."

What he saw in Wyoming were, in his words, "tons and tons of mountains." That whet the appetite of the snowboard fanatic.

"I'll be doing a lot of snowboarding," said Wisniewski, adding that Glenn, whom he called "one of the coolest coaches I've ever meet," has no problem with that.

Wisniewski rushed the ball a school-record 294 times as a junior and 279 times last fall (an average of 30 carries per game). His 23 touchdowns as a senior broke the school mark of 19 he set his junior year.

While some colleges projected Wisniewski as a linebacker, he was, in fact, recruited by Wyoming to play running back/fullback.

He's just thrilled he finally knows where he's going to play college ball.

"It was SO long," he said of the recruiting process. "I never imagined I would be at Wyoming."