SDSU FOOTBALL: Aztecs' Wallace more fluent in football

By TOM SHANAHAN - Fort the North County Times | Friday, August 15, 2008 10:34 AM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- This is the year that San Diego State football coaches believe wide receiver Roberto Wallace has added a third language to his international background.

"Yes, I speak English, Spanish and football," Wallace said with a grin.

To know what Wallace and his coaches mean is to understand that he grew up in Panama playing soccer and baseball until he moved to Oceanside to live with an aunt for his sophomore year at Oceanside High. He didn‘t play football until his junior year.

To apply the nuances of the game ---- how to run a pass pattern against man-to-man coverage on one play and find the seam in a zone the next ---- he had to learn the language of football.

The redshirt junior showed an example of how he better understands the game during a sequence of plays Thursday in practice. Wallace, a big target as a 6-foot-4, 215-pounder, caught a 15-yard pass over the middle from quarterback Ryan Lindley when he found an opening between three defenders, had a ball knocked away, and drew coverage to the left when running back Brandon Sullivan caught a short screen pass for a touchdown to the right.

On the sideline, Wallace, Lindley and senior wide receiver Justin Shaw talked about what happened on the series.

"He pressed me and then he started moving," Wallace told Shaw about the cornerback's coverage when a pass was knocked away. "He was squared off."

Lindley advised Wallace to "run him off" the pattern if he thinks the defender knows the route.

It's a conversation Wallace admits he would have needed translated to him a couple of years ago.

"I can add my mind to the game now," Wallace said. "It's not just being physical anymore. In high school, I could get away with that, but I can't here. It has to be a combination."

Adding the nuances of the game to Wallace's body is significant. He's one of those guys who looks bigger than his listed height and weight.

"He's a big kid," Aztecs receivers coach LeCharls McDaniel said. "He's not close to filling out what he could be; it's scary. He's a big target that runs wells and can be as physical as he wants to be. He has to just keep refining his game, and he can be something special. He has to keep working at it, and I believe he will."

The Aztecs, who sent two wide receivers into the NFL draft when Brett Swain was taken by the Green Bay Packers and Chaz Schilens by the Oakland Raiders, got a glimpse of what Wallace could do when an injured Darren Mougey was a last-minute scratch before last season's game against New Mexico. Wallace caught a career-high three passes for 20 yards, although SDSU lost in the final moments to the Lobos, 20-17. He had two catches for 43 yards in the win over Wyoming and finished the season with six catches for 72 yards in eight games.

Wallace emerged from spring ball listed behind junior Mekell Wesley, but he is challenging Wesley to move among the top three receivers along with Mougey, a senior, and sophomore Vincent Brown.

"I have a lot of trust in my teammates and my quarterback," Wallace said. "I trust my coach (McDaniel) and have a lot of respect for him. I believe in him and I'm sure he believes in me. I just have to keep working."

Aztecs notes

DT Darias Jones, a 6-4, 355-pound junior college transfer, and K Lane Yoshida practiced for the first time. Jones couldn't practice until he was academically cleared. He is from Gainesville, Fla., by way of Butte College in Oroville. "He's a big defensive lineman that is really football smart," coach Chuck Long said. "We're glad to have him. We're thinning out (in the defensive line)." Yoshida, a Reedley College product who participated in spring ball, was hitting field-goal attempts from 20-to-36 yards. "We had a spot and brought him back," Long said. "We're adding to the kicking competition. The kicking competition is wide open." ... The Aztecs have been practicing this week without sophomore DT Ernie Lawson (high ankle sprain) and senior DE Siaosi Fifita (knee sprain). ... Redshirt freshman LB Logan Ketchum is out with a stress fracture in his foot that's expected to sideline him for three weeks.

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