Former Ole Miss QB Bo Wallace to coach his brother at Tenn. high school
By Brad Logan
As one of the top quarterbacks in the SEC, Bo Wallace relied on his ability to make quick decisions, writes Mike Organ of the Tennessean.
It helped the former Giles County (Pulaski, Tenn.) standout lead Ole Miss to a 7-0 start in 2014 and its first top-five national ranking since 1964.
His decision-making also helped lead Wallace back to Tennessee, as seen in the USA Today.
It didn’t take long to decide that selling cars in Dallas was not for him, so he jumped at the opportunity to become the quarterbacks coach at Marshall County High (Lewisburg).
"“You know I love ball,” Wallace said. “I stayed out of it for a year, and it was eating me up trying to get back in it"
Getting back in it as a coach at Marshall County means Wallace will get to coach his younger brother Bryce, who will be a sophomore quarterback next season.
Wallace was hired Friday by Thomas Osteen, who was the quarterbacks coach at Giles County when Wallace was there.
"“I’m coming into a situation with Coach Osteen, knowing and liking how he coaches and his philosophies,” Wallace said. “I have a lot of friends on the staff and then I get to coach my little brother. I don’t think there is a better place where I can see myself fitting right in.”"
After not being selected in the 2015 NFL draft, Wallace accepted an invitation to try out with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs didn’t sign him, but Wallace heard from a couple of other NFL teams interested in taking a look at him along with some Canadian Football League teams.
Rather than try to extend his playing career, Wallace chose to pursue his longtime desire to coach and took a job as an assistant at Episcopal School of Dallas. He started working at the car dealership after the season ended.
Wallace will face a delicate situation with Bryce under his tutelage at Marshall County.
He wants to help Bryce with his development but does not want to put too much pressure on him to live up to what Bo accomplished by being named the state’s Class AA Mr. Football in 2009 and then going on to tie Eli Manning as the winningest quarterback in Ole Miss history.
"“I don’t ever want (Bryce) to feel like he has to follow in my footsteps,” Wallace said. “I want him to be the best Bryce Wallace he can be. That’s going to be just fine for him.”"
Bryce is poised to step in as Marshall County’s starting quarterback as Ashton Posey, who passed for more than 5,000 yards in his career, was a senior this past season.
Interestingly, Bo has never seen Bryce play because Bo was at Arkansas State as a redshirt freshman in 2010, at East Mississippi Junior College in 2011, at Ole Miss from 2012-14 and in Dallas this past season.
"“I’m most excited because it will be the first time he gets to watch me play,” Bryce said. “Then to have him as a coach will make it that much better. We’re real close; we text every day. And we talk a lot.”"
Instead of feeling pressured, Bryce said he looks forward to stepping out of his brother’s shadow.
"“I’d like to take some things from him, but you always want to be your own person,” Bryce said. “My whole life I’ve watched him play, so it kind of just comes naturally that I’m going to be like him in a lot of ways.”"
Bo Wallace is not sure how long he will be happy as an assistant on the high school level. He’ll continue giving private quarterback lessons. But he’s content for now.
"“It was always going to be that I was going to coach when I was done playing,” he said. “I didn’t know if it was going to be at the high school level or the college level, but I wanted to coach. The stars just kind of aligned for this to happen at Marshall County, and I’m taking it day by day and looking forward to going there and competing for a state championship.”"