Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1547542
2 6 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M K ent State was trailing by 49 points but was still playing hard while the final minutes of its September 2024 visit to Penn State ticked off the clock. Cam Wallace was playing hard, too, so something had to give when the redshirt freshman running back smashed into a wall of defenders on a rushing attempt late in the fourth quarter. That something turned out to be Wal- lace's legs. The Golden Flashes folded him in half, bending his torso backward while his feet were still planted firmly in the turf. It took seven defenders to get him on the ground, but once they did, he didn't get up. The tackle had left Wallace with broken bones in both legs. James Franklin would later say he'd never seen an injury quite like it in 30 years of coaching. Even the BTN announcing crew sounded like they wanted to look away after cueing up a re- play of the stop. In the aftermath of his injury, the ques- tion in the minds of many Penn State fol- lowers wasn't so much whether Wallace would play again that season; after he was carried off the field by a pair of team- mates, unable to put weight on either leg, it was readily apparent to anyone looking on that he was headed for a lengthy rehab. Reason Reason To To Believe Believe Driven by family and community, Cam Wallace turns a bad break into an opportunity M AT T H E R B | M AT T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M Wallace, a redshirt junior, rushed for a career-high 135 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries against Purdue, helping Penn State earn its first Big Ten victory under Matt Campbell. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS