Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1547542
D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 6 2 9 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Wallace's decision kept him at the school where he had invested so much time in his recovery. It also left him with another compe- tition to navigate. Singleton and Allen had exhausted their eligi- bility, but senior Carson Hansen and junior James Peoples were ar- riving from Iowa State and Ohio State, respectively. There were encouraging mo- ments early in the season. Wallace scored against Marshall and broke free for a 59-yard touchdown against Buffalo. But those were Group of Six foes; in Penn State's next four games — Wisconsin Northwest- ern, USC and Michigan — he received just 2 carries. Campbell and his staff were desperate to get a struggling Nittany Lion ground game moving, and at the time, the more experienced runners seemed like they were better equipped to gain yards if the offensive line could work through its own difficulties. The open date after the Michi- gan loss gave Wallace another chance to make an impression. Much to the coaching staff's de- light, he seized it. "You've got to earn the right to play, and Cam did," Campbell said. "Cam had an incredible two weeks. He has continued to stay the course, and with how he's practiced, he's earned the right to go in and not just play, but take advantage of his opportunity." Wallace had a less elaborate de- scription of what changed. "I just put my foot down," he said. Seizing The Moment Before Penn State took the field against Purdue, Rappleyea re- minded Wallace that he had been waiting for this chance. Once the game began, it was clear the veteran backup was ready for the spotlight. A 48-yard run in the first quarter helped set up a touchdown. A 7-yard gain on Penn State's first offensive play of the second half pushed him past 100 yards. In the fourth quarter, he scored from 2 yards out, capping a performance in which he continually thwarted Purdue's efforts to get him on the ground. "He ran the hell out of the ball," Rappleyea marveled. "He was like a pinball — ding, ding, ding, bouncing off people. He's the def- inition of trusting the process. He went through some crap. Seeing him do his thing was special." In the locker room afterward, Wallace's happiness was hard to contain. Redshirt senior quar- terback Rocco Becht said watch- ing him nearly brought him to tears, too. Rappleyea went over to offer congratulations and discovered that Wallace was already thinking about what he could have done better. "I went right up to him and said, 'Bro, you balled out,'" the tight end recalled. "He's not the kind of guy who's going to be like, 'Yeah, I did.' He said, 'Yeah, I played good, but I've got to work on a few things.' I was thinking, buddy, you rushed for 135 yards, that's a day." Wallace still had a call to make. His mother hadn't yet heard di- rectly from him when he met with reporters, but he had a pretty good idea what their conversation was going to sound like. "Very emotional," he predicted. "I know she's going to be crying, so that's going to make me cry." Wallace, who had 7 carries for 56 yards and a TD in Penn State's next game against Washington, said he never doubted he would return. He may not have known how long his rehabilitation would take or how much he would play when he fi- nally got healthy, but the return itself? That was a sure thing. "I've got too much love for this game to have [a pessimistic] kind of mindset," he said. "Every day, I come out to work, and I'm the same person, each and every day. I knew my time was going to come soon. I just had to keep working." ■ After suffering a season-ending injury in 2024, Wallace returned to action with a spectacular leaping pass reception in Penn State's season opener against Nevada the following year. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS