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AUBURN, Alabama -- On the first throw of his career, Jonathan Wallace took the snap, turned to his right and fired a hard-thrown, slightly wobbly ball at Ricardo Louis on the sideline, and Louis did the rest for an 11-yard gain. Jonathan Wallace on his expanding roleAuburn quarterback Jonathan Wallace threw the first pass of his career on Saturday.
Ever since Auburn inserted Wallace into the game as a Wildcat quarterback against LSU, the coaching staff has been saying that there were plays in the package that involved the freshman cutting loose with his right arm. Wallace finally got the chance on Saturday. "It was bad ball placement," Wallace said. "I could've gave him a better ball, I'd say that. But Rick has soft hands." Wallace got another chance a little later, this time on a two-receiver route with one receiver running a deep post and a secondary option underneath. Both players were covered, so Wallace tucked it and ran before getting blasted out of bounds for a personal foul that gave Auburn 15 yards.
"The guy was covered, so I couldn't do anything with it," Wallace said. "I just tried to get out and make something happen."
Used mostly out of the Wildcat package, Wallace started fast in his first three appearances, but ball-security issues against Vanderbilt limited his impact in the ground game. Wallace had the ball knocked 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage on one run, and the Vanderbilt defender jarred the ball loose on the hit out of bounds. "Protect the ball, that's another thing that I have to continue to work on," Wallace said. "Didn't expect it to happen, but you never know. So I'll be really focusing on ball security this week."
Wallace's role going forward will depend on how much Auburn wants to use its Wildcat package, but the freshman from Phenix City says he's ready at any time. Ever since Wallace took that first snap against LSU, he's been a fixture in the Tigers' offensive game plan, although his number of snaps have varied from game to game.
"The biggest part about it is preparation I would say," Wallace said. "Just keeping the mindset that everything can be called once you're out there. You really have to keep an open mind."
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