Riley Nowakowski’s path to the NFL started long before the Pittsburgh Steelers called his name in the 2026 NFL Draft.
It began with a family decision in Wisconsin, where Scott and Rhonda Nowakowski opened their home through adoption and gave him the foundation that helped carry him from Milwaukee to college football and now to Pittsburgh.
The Steelers selected Nowakowski in the fifth round with the 169th overall pick, adding the former Indiana tight end/fullback after a college career built on toughness, position changes, and steady growth.
He arrived in the draft as a national champion, a former Wisconsin walk-on, and one of the more personal stories of the class.
Nowakowski did not grow up with his biological parents in the home. He was adopted as a baby by Scott and Rhonda Nowakowski, who had already adopted their daughter Anastasia two years earlier.
That choice became the beginning of a life that eventually led him to football’s biggest stage.
Scott remembered the first time he saw Riley and immediately felt the pull of bringing him into the family.
“I’m loving this guy. Let’s give this guy a chance, see what we can do, and I’d love to have him be part of our family,” Scott Nowakowski said.
For Riley, that decision has never felt small. He has spoken openly about how much it still means to him that Scott and Rhonda chose him, supported him, placed him in sports, and pushed him to chase his goals.
“It definitely goes through my mind a lot that my parent, thankfully chose me, and put me in sports and encouraged me to try to achieve to the highest level,” Nowakowski said. “I got lucky.”
Scott and Rhonda Nowakowski Raised Riley Through Sports and Support
Riley Nowakowski grew up in Milwaukee and attended Marquette University High School, where he became a standout athlete before starting his college career at Wisconsin.
His childhood was filled with sports, competition, and encouragement from the family that raised him.
That support mattered because adoption also came with questions he had to work through as a child.
Nowakowski has said he knew he looked different from the rest of his family, and that made it difficult at times to feel fully comfortable with how other people saw him.
“I don’t look the same as the rest of my family, so it was kind of tough to hide,” Nowakowski said. “You see yourself as different, right? Like other people see you as different.”
He described acceptance as something he had to grow into, but he also made clear that his parents were always there.
“I think I’ve always had support from my parents,” Nowakowski said.
That backing helped him build a football career that did not follow a straight line. At Wisconsin, he played across multiple roles, including linebacker, fullback and tight end.
He appeared in 40 games for the Badgers, earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, and later transferred to Indiana for his final college season.
At Indiana, Nowakowski became a key piece of a historic team. He started all 16 games during the 2025 season, earned All-Big Ten recognition, and scored a one-yard touchdown in the national championship game as the Hoosiers completed a perfect season.
The Steelers did not just draft a player with size and versatility. They drafted someone whose football story was shaped by patience, family, and a long climb through different positions.
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Nowakowski’s adoption story also includes his biological mother. Her name has not been publicly shared in the available reports, but Riley remains in contact with her and has no ill will toward her decision to place him for adoption.
He has made peace with that part of his life and sees her presence as another source of support.
That detail gives his story more depth, not because it replaces Scott and Rhonda’s role, but because it shows how his family story has continued to grow over time.
Rhonda Nowakowski summed up the heart of the story simply.
“Families come in all different shapes and sizes with just love and support,” she said.
That sentence fits Riley Nowakowski’s journey better than anything else. His rise was not only about football talent.
It was also about the people who stood behind him, the home that gave him stability, and the support system that helped him become confident enough to chase the NFL.
Nowakowski now enters the league with the Steelers after a college career that stretched from Wisconsin to Indiana and ended with a national championship.
The draft pick gave him a professional opportunity, but the story behind it began with Scott and Rhonda Nowakowski’s decision more than two decades earlier.
Riley Nowakowski’s parents helped give him the chance. He turned that chance into a football life that now continues in Pittsburgh.
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