Niswanger Signs Free Agent Contract With Chiefs

BATON ROUGE — LSU’s Rudy Niswanger has signed a free agent contract with the Kansas City Chiefs, the club announced on Wednesday.

Niswanger, an offensive lineman from Monroe, becomes the 13th senior from last year’s LSU football team to either be drafted or sign a free agent contract with an NFL team. Niswanger is expected to play both the guard and center positions for the Chiefs.

Niswanger, the most decorated student-athlete in LSU football history, goes to the Chiefs after spending the past two seasons in the starting lineup for the Tigers. Niswanger started 12 games at center for the Tigers in 2005 after starting all 13 games for LSU in 2004.

During his career, Niswanger earned ESPN the Magazine First-Team Academic All-America honors twice, while also being named the recipient of the Draddy Award, the Wuerffel Trophy and most recently, the McWhorter Award as the Southeastern Conference’s top male student-athlete.

Niswanger said he will attempt to make an NFL roster before turning his attention to medical school. Niswanger, who graduated from LSU with a perfect 4.0 grade point average, has already been accepted to the LSU Medical School in Shreveport.

The following is a list of LSU’s 2005 seniors and where they are headed for the 2006 NFL season.

Player

Pos.

Team

Selection (Overall Pick)

Joseph Addai

Indianapolis Colts

First Round (30)

Andrew Whitworth

Cincinnati Bengals

Second Round (55)

Claude Wroten