Here’s a little alternative perspective for Georgia Bulldog and Evans football fans.
If former Dawgs and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Rodrigo Blankenship never missed those field goals in Georgia’s double-overtime 20-17 loss to South Carolina, we may have never discovered how good a kicker Evans’ Tyler Wallace is.
In a year of high school football that seems to boast more talented special teams players than usual, Wallace is among the Augusta area’s best.
In fact, he’s the sixth-ranked kicker in the nation for the Class of 2025 according to the Kohl’s Professional Camps rankings, and this past July he competed at the Kohl’s National Scholarship Camp. He connected on three of five field goals and went 22-for-24 on PATs as a sophomore, and that, plus his offseason work on the camp circuit, has drawn a great deal of attention to Wallace.
In this week’s Athlete Spotlight, Wallace talks about the work he’s done in the offseason, what he wishes more fans knew about special teams in football — kickers specifically — and what prompted him to give football a try in the first place. He also shares his progress on the recruiting trail.
Wallace will likely be booting the first kickoff of the season for Evans when the Knights travel to across the border to North Augusta Friday for a 7:30 p.m. matchup with the Yellow Jackets, who also boast a couple of good special teamers of their own.
STOVALL: What would you attribute to your success and notoriety you’re getting as a kicker?
WALLACE: “Honestly, I would give all my success to the Lord. Throughout this journey He’s been there every step of the way, through thick and thin, and I couldn’t be in my position if it wasn’t for Him.”
STOVALL: Often in high school football, kickers and the special teams aspect of the game get overlooked. What’s it like playing at a school that values and invests in their special teams play?
WALLACE: “Yes, the special teams is the third side of the ball that most coaches, players, and fans typically don’t see the day-to-day process of. But playing at Evans, which is a school that focuses on the third side of the ball, really helps me be able to do my job to the highest of my abilities.”
STOVALL: How did you get started playing football, and when was the moment/play/kick that made you believe you had the potential to be really good at this?
WALLACE: “It was when Georgia lost to South Carolina and (Rodrigo) Blankenship missed a kick. I was headed to practice soccer in my back yard with my dad, and he found an old football in the woods and he said, ‘Have you ever kicked a football before,’ and I responded with, ‘No,’ and we placed it on the grass about 25 yards away, and I hit it straight over the crossbar and it was that moment that we both thought maybe this could be a thing for me.”
STOVALL: Describe your summer and offseason. What type of work did you do to improve? In what specific ways have you seen improvement as a kicker?
WALLACE: “My off-season consists of kicking four to five times a week and lifting weights around two to three times a week. Most of the kicking I do in the summer is at camps either for colleges or private workouts for form. But, in season you slow down on the kicking and lifting to conserve your leg throughout the week just as a baseball pitcher would.”
STOVALL: What do you think is a fact about your position that most football fans probably don’t know or consider as much of the attention gets placed on “skill position” players?
WALLACE: “A thing most fans don’t see about a kicker or just special teams is the whole operation. A new holder or new long snapper could throw off a kicker’s entire season. If a holder tears his ACL mid season, and the backup holder doesn’t take it seriously, then, to the crowd, it looks like a miss that’s all on the kicker. But only the kicker knows his rhythm and timing is completely thrown off. We saw that this past season with one of the best kickers in the NFL in Evan McPherson where on the first game of the season, his long snapper gets hurt, and for the rest of the game he missed extra points and field goals.”
STOVALL: What are your goals for the season and how is recruiting picking up for you? What offers/interest do you have right now from colleges?
WALLACE: “My goals for this season is to have a 100% touchback ratio on deep kicks, 100% on extra points and 90% on field goals. Most kickers typically don’t get offers until late senior year, but I currently hold an offer from North Alabama, and as far as interest goes I’m still building connections with coaches since they are allowed to talk to us now, and last year I built some through taking game day visit to schools like South Carolina, Chattanooga, Charlotte, Samford, Coastal Carolina, Troy, Arkansas State.”
