N.J. sleeper Wallace makes pledge to Cavaliers

By Jay Jenkins

Published: June 30, 2008

The fact that Virginia offered Cody Wallace a big-time Division I scholarship did not surprise coach Russ Horton.

He was shocked, however, that the offer came so early in the college football recruiting process.

In fact, the longtime coach at Moorestown High in New Jersey — a program fresh off a state title and five trips to the playoffs over the past six years — has never had a player commit before the start of his senior season.

Wallace, a 6-foot-5, 260-pound offensive lineman, made that a reality last week when he committed to Virginia coach Al Groh following one of the program’s numerous summer camps. He becomes the 18th player to verbally commit for the Class of 2009.

“I guess that is just the way that everybody is doing it now,” Horton said. “Penn State is the same way, Rutgers is the same way … I guess it is just a sign of the times and there is a rush out there to get the good players.”

Horton believes Virginia found a gem in Wallace, who left Monday for an 11-day trip to Spain.

“Big men are hard to find, which I kept being told from all the recruiters coming in,” Horton said. “The biggest thing is that he can move and can move that well, so I wasn’t surprised.

“I was just a little surprised that colleges have been doing it that early.”

It was during Wallace’s sophomore campaign that the school’s coaching staff knew national attention was on the horizon. Wallace landed his first offer from Central Florida and other countless programs, including Miami and Penn State, expressed sincere interest.

Credit Mother Nature to a degree on that front.

“I coached his older brother, and as a sophomore, you could see that Cody was going to be bigger, but he just kept growing,” Horton said. “We were surprised at how big he got. I thought he was going to be a 6-foot-3 kid, but he has continued to grow and he is up to 6-5 and once you hit that, if you can move a little bit, college coaches are going to be interested.

“Luckily, he moves very well for a big guy.”

Wallace, in fact, has been clocked at 5.0 and better in the 40-yard dash at national scouting combines.

A two-way player in high school, numerous programs projected Wallace as a defensive lineman at the next level, Horton said.

“Some schools were looking at him defensively,” the coach said. “He played on the strong side defensively for us, and he was very good. He is just one of those players, when you go back and watch film, that other teams run opposite from. He is obviously a big guy and opposite him we had a little guy, who is a tremendous football player and it was a lose-lose for them.

“You could tell that they made a decision to at least try and attack the smaller defensive end. Cody was a very important part of our defense.”

Wallace, who is not yet ranked by recruiting services, becomes the third offensive lineman for the ’09 class, a group that could include three more additions.