All 105 is a Nittany Sports Now series profiling each Penn State football player. This edition will look at fifth-year OL Caedan Wallace.
Height: 6-foot-5
Weight: 341 pounds
Hometown: Robbinsville, New Jersey
Before Penn State: Wallace lettered three years at the Hun School and one at Robbinsville High School.
As a senior, he got chosen for the All-American and Polynesian Bowls and received a “Man of the Year” nomination for the All-American Bowl.
Wallace had 50 pancake blocks as a junior and 47 as a senior, helping him become the No. 81 overall player and No. 3 offensive guard from his class, as well as the No. 2 player in New Jersey according to 247Sports’ composite ratings. He committed to Penn State in December 2018.
At Penn State
2019: Wallace redshirted his first season, playing in four games.
2020: Wallace became a regular for Penn State, playing in all nine of Penn State’s games in the pandemic-shortened season and starting seven of them at right tackle.
2021: Wallace kept his right tackle job and started all 13 games.
He was part of a unit that received much scrutiny, however, and many cited the line as part of the reason Penn State lost six of its last eight games and finished 7-6.
2022: Wallace played in eight of Penn State’s 13 games at right tackle, starting seven of them. The coaching staff named him its offensive player of the game. He missed Penn State’s last four regular-season games with an injury but came back for the team’s season-ending Rose Bowl win over Utah.
Where he stands: Wallace is in a battle to be Penn State’s starting right tackle. Olu Fashanu has his spot on the left side locked down after missing Penn State’s last five games with an injury. True freshman Drew Shelton started those five games in Fashanu’s place and played well enough to where he’s competing with Shelton for a starting spot. Given Wallace’s experience and the fact that he’s been starting at Penn State for three years, he seems to be the favorite to win the job, but nothing is certain yet.
A quote by Wallace: “I’ve been working on more ankle mobility. Really ankle, knee and hips, making sure everything in line can be flexible and move as one. So I do a lot of flexibility stuff, open legs and stretching my calves because it’s all connected. I feel like if you really lock in on it and do it once or twice a day, you can really improve.” — Wallace to reporters at Penn State’s annual Lift for Life event this past June.
A quote about Wallace: “I think we’ve all seen flashes of Caedan as maybe as good as any tackle in the country. He’s just got to do it more consistently.” — Coach James Franklin to reporters after a summer practice.
