Rian
“Goo” Wallace stands defiant, game after game, while
watching his team get rolled over by opponents far
bigger, faster, stronger, and more talented than his
Temple Owls. The words in the interviews come flowing
out, sounding the same each game, as though he actually
still believes them. “First of all, we can be spoiler
here,” he says, or “Yes, I know our record is not good,
but we’ve been right there a lot of times,” or maybe, “We
have a chance to affect someone else’s season.” What else
can a man say when he’s looking square in the face of
another one win season? He may not be able to say a lot
of good about his team, the Temple Owls, but Rian Wallace
speaks quite loudly on the field.
The
Owls, unceremoniously dumped from the Big East Conference,
cling to the hopes that they have found new life somehow
in the secession of Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston
College to the ACC. Few schools have suffered the
humiliation Temple has endured in the last twenty years.
Countless blowout losses and year after year of horrid
records make recruiting a nightmare. Yet, every once in a
while, a hometown talent stays close to home and decides
to play for the Owls. It’s difficult to say what
motivated Rian Wallace to be one of them because there was
no shortage of schools who would have taken the 6’4”
250-pound linebacker when he came out of Pottstown,
Pennsylvania.
Wallace
would have seen significant playing time as a true
freshman had he not torn both his ACL and MCL in practices
leading up to the Big 33 Pennsylvania-Ohio all-star game.
Surely, that was a disappointment for the Temple Owls, but
he has not disappointed since he has been on the field,
racking up huge numbers including finishing last year with
148 tackles and 19.5 tackles for losses, which ranked him
among the top 10 nationally in both categories. Maybe
what is even more impressive than his numbers is the fact
that he has managed to make it enjoyable to watch Temple
games again.
“I like
to go out there and prove that guys that come from bigger
schools are not better than me, and that I’m a force to be
reckoned with,” he has said, and indeed he has proven it
time after time. The unusual 4-2-5 defense that Temple
employs means that Wallace’s area of responsibility is
wider than that of many other linebackers. He has many of
the talents and techniques that NFL scouts look for in
their recruits. He uses excellent speed to cover ground
and get to plays. He has excellent quickness for a man of
his size, which allows him to get good penetration and a
high number of tackles for a loss.
Early in
his career he struggled at making tackles, often looking
more like a fullback, a position at which he had split
time in his high school years. That no longer seems to be
a problem, as evidenced by the enormous number of tackles
he makes each year. He has good vision on the field and a
good instinct for what angles to take, which allow him to
get to plays quickly.
All his
physical talents aside, perhaps what is most noticeable
about Wallace is that he fights hard no matter the score.
In a 52-14 pounding Temple was receiving at the hands of
the Miami Hurricanes, he showed the same fire in his play
in the fourth quarter as he had when the game had just
begun. When you watch him play in blowout games, you get
the sense that he relishes the role of the underdog, as
though an opportunity to overcome these great odds means
as much to him, if not more, than the opportunity to be on
a winning program.
There
are aspects of his game he will need to improve if he is
to be a dominant force in the NFL. He seems to rely too
often on his physical gifts to get him to the play and too
little on good technique. His own coach has admitted that
Wallace “runs around blocks” and “does things that are
unorthodox,” but he claims that he “still makes plays.”
While that is fine in college, he won’t get away with
that in the NFL. In fact, in the game against Virginia
Tech game last year, which Temple had a chance to win in
overtime, he didn’t stay in his assigned spot, allowing
Bryan Randall to run past him for the winning touchdown.
That touchdown most likely would have been prevented had
Wallace been in correct position.
Whichever NFL team drafts Wallace, they will get a player
who will welcome adversity and carry a nice-sized chip on
his shoulder. However, it is still up in the air as to
whether or not that team will be able to harness those
physical gifts upon which Wallace so heavily relies.
Improvement in the area of discipline on the field this
year would go a great length to make his future employer
feel more comfortable and improve his position in next
year’s draft.
As
Temple football as part of the Big East conference fades
into the cold future, Wallace can put one last defiant
stamp on their history with a grand performance this year.
If he is able to do that, someone will likely select him
early on day one. I expect he will do so with the same
dignity he has shown though the undeniably frustrating
years of his college experience.
