Blue White Illustrated

One of Penn State's latest adds in the Class of 2021 is also one of its most in- triguing. A three-star receiver from Pike Road, Ala., Harrison Wallace o=ers an interesting mix of natural ball skills, deep speed and raw ability. While he is not a towering receiver, he has the kind of skills that could make him an e=ective boundary player in new o=ensive coor- dinator Mike Yurcich's o=ense. STRENGTHS DEEP SPEED It's clear from the ;rst snap of his tape that Wallace is a supe- rior athlete at his level of competition. He's not just fast; it's not even a contest on most of his deep routes. Wallace can use multiple gears to get open. He can blow by defenders or slow-play them and then create separa- tion with a burst to go get the ball once he's even with the defensive back. The ability to create separation is more im- portant than just straight-line speed, and Wallace shows that he can do that on deep balls. In Yurcich's vertical- based o=ense, it's important for the quarterback to have easy targets. It's hard enough to complete a high per- centage of balls 20 or more yards down- ;eld without a window to throw into. Wallace shows a knack for creating those kind of openings. CONTESTED CATCHES Because of his speed, Wallace o>en had to wait on deep balls at the high school level because he had outrun the range of his quarter- back's arm. That led to quite a few con- tested-catch situations. On ;lm, he exhibits the ability to go up and get the ball over defenders when he needs to. He's also a very good hands- catcher and doesn't seem to ;ght the ball in the air. Even on a highlight reel, his natural hands are apparent. CATCH RADIUS Wallace has a natural ability to control his body in space and presents a wider catch radius than his 6- foot-1 frame would suggest. All of this blends together to create a complete pro;le for a receiver who can be a domi- nant No. 1 pass catcher – a guy who's open even when he's covered. RUN AFTER CATCH Wallace was typi- cally the fastest player on the ;eld, so he created angles that other high school athletes just could not catch up to. But he also displayed the ability to make de- fenders miss once he had the ball in his hands. He was used e=ectively as a wildcat quarterback and on jet sweeps. He's not an electric, change-of-direc- tion runner, but rather a smooth opera- tor who slips by defenders with subtle moves. AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT ROUTE RUNNING Most of the questions about Wallace are about his usage and not his physical talent. He does show some examples of being able to break down at the top of a route and create separation, but for the most part he's just running deep. He may have a steep learning curve if he hasn't gotten much instruction about route running or the details that go into creating separation against quality defensive backs. He has the physical tools to be a good college receiver, but he'll have to absorb as much as he can from re- ceivers coach Taylor Stubble;eld in order to become a complete player. LEVEL OF COMPETITION There were no full-length regular-season games avail- able to watch, but according to the Ala- bama High School Football Historical Society, Pike Road outscored its oppo- nents 473-107 in 2020. Thirty-four of those points were given up in a season- opening win, while 28 more came against a comparable opponent in the second round of the Alabama playo=s. In short, there wasn't exactly sti= competition for Wallace to test himself against. Half of the runtime of his high- light ;lm is Wallace jogging the ;nal 20 yards of a big play into the end zone. The Pike Road senior did what he was sup- posed to do, though, catching 27 balls for nearly 700 yards and seven touch- downs last season. SHORT-AREA SEPARATION While Wal- lace shows good linear speed, there isn't really any evidence of him creating sepa- ration underneath. Once again, it doesn't mean that he lacks this ability, just that he wasn't asked to run too many inter- mediate routes in his high school o=ense. While his one trick is really good, he'll have to learn the rest of them in order to be a consistent part of a college o=ense. POSITIONAL PROJECTION BOUNDARY RECEIVER The longer you view Wallace's ;lm, the more things you ;nd to like about him. From his natural

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