Up Close & Personal: Caedan Wallace set to bring aggressive approach to PSU

You don’t need to know Caedan Wallace to understand the way he plays the game of football at the offensive guard position. Take one visit to his Twitter profile and you’ll get a good idea. A highlight video serves as the greeting, with Wallace plowing a defensive lineman into the ground. The clip is captioned “I dare you to get up.”

In conversation, Wallace is relaxed and measured. But he possesses the ability to flip a switch the moment he steps between the lines and onto the field. There, his tenacity gives him the edge he needs.

“You have to be aggressive on the field, just to show that you belong there and let your opponent know that you belong there and that you’re better than them,” Wallace said.

That mentality has served Wallace well. He helped The Hun School in Princeton, N.J., to three consecutive prep league titles, earning numerous individual accolades along the way, including invitations to the All-American Bowl, Polynesian Bowl and The Opening Finals. Rivals.com rates Wallace as the 69th overall recruit in the country and the No. 4 offensive guard. He earned offers from 27 schools, taking an official visit to Oklahoma as well as Penn State.

He settled on the Nittany Lions early, becoming the third prospect to join the Class of 2019 when he announced his commitment on April 21, 2018. The youngest of three brothers, Wallace has developed the kind of competitive edge the Nittany Lions value. His father, Charles, said Caedan became infatuated with the game at an early age thanks to the influence of his youth coaches. Once Caedan demonstrated his willingness to make sacrifices for the sake of the game, the elder Wallace got the sense that his son might be special.

“[The coaches] trained them hard, but they loved them hard, which made them want to come to practice in the rain, never want to miss a game,” Charles said. “Once you put a kid through those type of rigors, they’re either going to say I’m with it, or I’m not. He was consistent all the way through.”

Family made a significant impact on Caedan’s growth as a football player, and it also played an important role in his decision to sign with the Nittany Lions. He said he feels he can make an impact on the field at Penn State, but it was the off the field aspects of Caedan’s recruitment that helped sell him on the school.

“A lot of the coaches just made time to let us know that football isn’t a business for them, it’s more of a way that they could help younger athletes become the best athletes they can be and be better men, better fathers and stuff like that,” he said.

Over the course of his 14 trips to University Park, Charles felt that connection, too.

“They did an exceptional job of building a relationship, and more importantly trust, which takes time,” Charles said. “They said it, they meant it. That was really important to us.”

Penn State used the little things to help win the Wallace family, as well. The staff sent Caedan graphics for birthdays and big games alike. Offensive line coach Matt Limegrover and head coach James Franklin made visits to Caedan’s high school and made it a priority to check in with him on game days in Happy Valley, too.

“Again, it’s family,” Charles said. “They were consistent all the way through. Even now as the transition has happened and they’ve moved onto 2020-2021, they still stay in contact.”

Caedan said he intends to major in finance or communications when he arrives. He’s an honor roll student and maintained a 93 percent grade point average heading into his senior year. On the field, Wallace relies on his athleticism to excel. He can move better than most offensive linemen, even at 6-foot-5, 291 pounds. As a result, he is an excellent run blocker.

“That’s my strong suit,” he said. “I’m still working to improve that. There’s a lot of other aspects I’m working to improve, but I think my straight-up run blocking, just running down the field blocking, is one of my strong suits, and making it to the next level, hitting the linebackers. Just moving all over the field is one of my big attributes.”

Wallace isn’t shy about his goals, either. A winner at the high school level, he said his goal is to achieve the same level of success in the college game.

“I’m ready to come in and make a big impact,” he said, “and do the best I can to win a national championship at Penn State.”