Film Don't Lie: CB KJ Wallace
If Notre Dame wants to compete with the best in the nation, they need to land as many recruits as possible from areas where the top talent is located. One of those areas is Georgia and they haven’t done a good enough job of taking players from there in recent cycles.
That changed in the 2018 class with two big commitments from the Peach State in Derrik Allen and Tommy Tremble. They are off to a good start in the state for 2019 as well now that they’ve earned a commitment from cornerback KJ Wallace.
I recently listed Wallace as one of my favorite prospects visiting for Junior Day and it’s more of a coincidence that he pledged to Notre Dame than me making a prediction. I think it’s fairly clear from that article that I am thrilled with adding him to the class, though. He’s a very good prospect that I feel can be a terrific all-around player at defensive back at the college level.
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 180
Projected Position: Cornerback/Nickel
ISD Grade: 93 (4 star)
National Average Grade: 90.0 (4 star)
What he does best:
What I like most about Wallace is that he does so much well. He has really good feet and it looks to me that he has been coached well. There are many guys who have short area quickness that is hampered by sloppiness with their technique, but that’s not what I see from him.
Look at him here in the red zone in a press technique. Yes, I’d love to see him get his hands on the receiver to jam at the line, but the fact that he keeps his feet within his frame allows him to stay under control. He mirrors the movement quickly and is on the hip of the receiver. This back shoulder attempt doesn’t have much of a chance because Wallace is right there the whole way. That only happens with his footwork.
He plays all over the field for The Lovett School on both sides of the ball. That’s definitely a positive as you get to see so many different parts of his game. As a safety, he shows what a strong tackler he is coming down hill with aggressive reads. Players his size are almost always cut tacklers, but he can wrap and hit through his opponent just like he does here.
If you play at Notre Dame and you have to face Navy and Stanford every year, you better be able to tackle well as a corner. It’s one of the strengths of Wallace’s game.
That’s one example of how he plays bigger than his measurables, but I also love the way he competes for the football. Here he is coming over the top as a safety to win the battle at the catch point.
Smaller corners need to play with an edge. We see that with Julian Love and Wallace has some of that in his game too.
An instinctive player, he does a great job of being patient and knowing when to break on routes. He reads the bubble here and absolutely obliterates the receiver.
He is lined up in the nickel there and that’s a spot where I think he can thrive at the next level too. It’s that ability to recognize routes, tackle well, and how efficient he is with his change of direction that acts as evidence that he can be great there.
What he needs to improve:
Similar to a lot of the defensive backs Notre Dame has targeted in 2019, Wallace is an impact player on both sides of the ball. His ball skills are on display as a receiver and he can catch the ball pretty naturally, but I’d like to see more production with him finishing on the other side of the ball.
He gets his hands on the football and will work through the catch point, but hopefully he’ll be able to produce more turnovers and pick the ball off a bit more in the future.
I like what I see from him in a short area, but I’m not sure how fast he is with his top end speed. Some of that is on display on offense, but it doesn’t jump off the film as much as I would hope for. He can flip his hips and run, but I want to see if he can run with elite speed receivers on the outside.
What’s his ceiling?
Notre Dame is getting a great football player in Wallace. This is a fantastic addition to the class this early and gives them a great start for ‘19 by following up with the blue-chip defenders they’re bringing in the ‘18 class.
I think Wallace has a chance to be an early contributor as a nickel in the Irish defense and an eventual starter on the outside. The former Notre Dame player I think of when watching him is Mike Richardson, specifically the player Richardson was in his final two years in blue and gold. He had a combined 11.5 tackles for loss and 7 interceptions in 2005-06 while playing both outside and in the nickel. He was a great tackler despite weight a buck ninety at most.
That’s the kind of player I feel Wallace can become. I'm really excited about his future and he's going to make the program a lot deeper and better at corner in the years to come.