A former Penn State offensive lineman has been placed on injured reserve.
Friday morning, New England Patriots coach Jerod Mayo announced that rookie offensive tackle Caedan Wallace, who played at Penn State from 2019-23, has been placed on injured reserve, which would mean he’d be out for at least the next six weeks.
The #Patriots are placing OT Caedan Wallace (ankle) on Injured Reserve, per coach Jerod Mayo. Sounds like he's out at least six weeks.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 4, 2024
This is a tough break for Wallace, who had been getting a decent amount of playing time for the Pats as a rookie. He made his first NFL start in prime time Week 3 when the Pats took on the Jets in New York on Thursday night football.
Wallace went to the Patriots in the third round of this past spring’s Draft. Before that, he was at Penn State for five seasons and started for four of them.
As a redshirt senior, he played the best football of his career, becoming an All-Big Ten honorable mention performer. In 359 passing attempts, Wallace allowed just one sack. Penn State’s offensive line has had a revival over the past several seasons, and Wallace was a big part of that.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Wallace was the third Penn State player selected, with joining fellow OL Olu Fashanu (No. 11 to the Jets) and DE Chop Robinson, who went No. 21 to the Dolphins.
Wallace redshirted his first season, playing in four games. In 2020, he 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.
In 2021, Wallace kept his right tackle job and started all 13 games.
The next year, he 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.
In 2023, he played the best football of his college career and could well have a long pro career even with this setback.
