TodayHealthy Wallace cementing his role
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Cornerback A.J. Wallace (1) has overcome some off-field and injury woes to become a starter.
There have been moments this year that A.J. Wallace would like to forget.
A broken jaw during the spring forced the Penn State cornerback to miss the Blue White game.
Later in preseason drills, as he was likely about to secure a starting spot, Wallace injured his hamstring.
He was named in a University Police investigation into some marijuana found inside his on-campus apartment, but later found to have no involvement.
Then he ate some bad soup.
Yes, bad soup.
“When I ate the soup, that was crazy. I was just in my room and was like ‘man, I’m kind of hungry’ and I hadn’t eaten all day so I just had the soup (from the day before) and I ate that and then it made me sick to where I couldn’t practice. I just felt like everything that could go wrong was going wrong because I was just trying to get on the field.”
Healthy, Wallace has secured his starting position over Lydell Sargeant, at the cornerback spot opposite of Tony Davis.
“I really didn’t ask the coaches prior. They just said ‘A.J., go in.’ I didn’t look back at that point. I didn’t ask questions. I was just able to go in. I guess they felt my hamstring was where it needed to be. I felt good, I guess they see me working hard at practice.”
Wallace had high hopes coming into the 2008 season.
“I think I would have been able to have a starting spot if I would have been able to stay healthy,” Wallace said. “I felt real good going into camp, working hard, I felt like I worked hard during the offseason to prepare myself for the upcoming season.”
His head coach, Joe Paterno, had some higher hopes for the junior cornerback.
“And when A.J. got hurt, we thought A.J. would play a little bit of offense as well as defense just as we started out with him in mind of doing that as kind of a back up guy to Derrick Williams, in case Derrick got banged up or got tired. Then he (Wallace) got the hamstring pull. So that set him back a little bit,” Paterno said.
“But Sargeant, (Wallace) and Davis, they’re three good corners and they all should play, keep them fresh. Nowadays, when you have to be ready for a lot of spread, you need that extra defensive back. We’re fortunate that Astorino’s come through the way he has. That’s really given us two extra backs. We’ve got three inside guys now and three outside guys, which is a big plus for us.”
After falling behind Sargeant due to the injury, Wallace found himself in the nickel role on defense. Eventually that spot went to Drew Astorino as Wallace continued to work his way back to full health after re-aggravating the injury against Temple.
“It was bothering me. I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know if I stretched well enough, I didn’t warm-up enough,” Wallace said.
When Wallace was initially hurt before the season began it was the second time he tweaked his hamstring. Back during his sophomore season he had a slight injury to it.
The second time around the injury was more of a mental setback than physical. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t excruciating pain to go along with it.
“It’s just a pain I’ve never had before. At one point it feels like it’s popping then it just starts burning,” Wallace said.
“I felt like I was doing everything right and for that to happen it was just, it put me down. It was hard for me to get my morale back up. I went through rehab and everything and it seems to be working out now.”
“I think he knew he got hurt, he’s just been working really hard, rehabbing and stuff and I feel he’s had a great mind set on just working hard to get back where he needs to be and contributing to the team,” Astorino added.
In order to get his mind right Wallace felt he needed to become a better student of the game. Blessed with the physical and athletic tools to be a star, the 6’1 speedster has honed his game to show glimpses of becoming a legit lock down cornerback.
“I feel as though I am preparing for the game much better. I’m playing every play, I used to go out there and take a play or two off. I’m focusing on every play, getting ready for what’s happening and just trying to see tendencies and see other things where the receiver is lining up or little clues on the field I can pick up to use to my advantage.”
“(Paterno) has been happy with my work ethic and how I go out and play the play, go out to practice, motivating other guys. Try to get everybody’s spirits up. Just being a team player and just go out there and having fun but at the same time working hard and getting done what we got to get done.”
Recovering from the hamstring injury, Wallace said he took time out to talk to wide receiver Jordan Norwood, who is going through the same type of injury.
Norwood is expected to play this weekend against Wisconsin.
