Mike Wallace (American football)

Mike Wallace

Mike Wallace standing on the sidelines in December 2009.
No. 17     Pittsburgh Steelers
Wide Receiver
Personal information
Date of birth: August 1, 1986 (1986-08-01) (age 25)
Place of birth: New Orleans, Louisiana
Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Weight: 199 lb (90 kg)
Career information
College: Mississippi
NFL Draft: 2009 / Round: 3 / Pick: 84
Debuted in 2009 for the Pittsburgh Steelers
Career history
Pittsburgh Steelers (2009–present)
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
3× 2009 Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week Winner (Weeks 9, 15 & 17) "Joe Greene Great Performance Award" (2009) Led the NFL in Average Yards per Reception in 2009 with 19.4 Led the NFL in 2010 with seven 100-yard receiving games Pro Bowl selection (2010)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 8, 2011
Receptions	142
Receiving yards	2,813
Receiving TDs	21
Stats at NFL.com

Burnell Micheal "Mike" Wallace III (born August 1, 1986 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American football wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Steelers in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at Mississippi.

Early years

Wallace was born to parents Burnell and Sonjia Wallace in New Orleans, Louisiana. He grew up in the Cut-Off section of the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans. He attended O. Perry Walker High School where he played football on both offense and defense. During his senior year, Wallace had 60 receptions for 1,039 yards and 19 touchdowns. He also returned four punts and four kickoffs for touchdowns, with seven more touchdowns called back due to penalties. Wallace set the school records for total points and kick return touchdowns.^[1]

SuperPrep named him the 17th-ranked college prospect in the state of Louisiana. Wallace was also named the league MVP, district MVP, and All-West Bank MVP. He was also named an All-State, all-league, All-Metro, All-West Bank player.^[1]

College career

In 2004, Wallace accepted a scholarship from Oregon State after insisting that they also recruit his best friend and high school teammate Keenan Lewis who was one year ahead of Wallace in school. However, Wallace later decided not to join Lewis at Oregon State but instead to follow his high school coach, Frank Wilson, who had joined the coaching staff at the University of Mississippi.^[2]

As a true freshman in 2005, Wallace played in 10 games. In 2006, he started all 12 games as a split end. He recorded two touchdown receptions to tie for first on the team. At Kentucky, he had two receptions for 65 yards. Against Wake Forest, he had two receptions for 36 yards. At Alabama, he had his first career touchdown on a 55-yard catch from Brent Schaeffer. He had one catch for 38 yards against Mississippi State.

In 2007, Wallace saw action in all 12 games with nine starts as a split end. He recorded 716 receiving yards and had two 100-yard games. He had seven catches of at least 40 yards and three of at least 50 yards. He ranked first in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in yards per catch with 18.8. He was named third-team All-SEC.^[1]

In 2008, he played in six games where he recorded 39 receptions for 784 yards and seven touchdowns. He also had ten carries for 92 yards.^[1] In the 2009 Cotton Bowl against Texas Tech, he caught a 41-yard touchdown pass from Jevan Snead.^[3] Wallace participated in the 2009 Senior Bowl on the South team, as a replacement for a no-show wide receiver invitee.^[4]

Professional career

2009 NFL Draft

At the NFL Scouting Combine, Wallace finished second overall in the 40-yard dash with an official 4.33-second time. This was the second fastest wide receiver time.

Pre-draft measureables

Ht	Wt	40-yd dash	10-yd split	20-yd split	20-ss	3-cone	Vert	Broad	BP
6 ft 0¼ in	199 lb	4.33 s	1.43 s	2.45 s	4.27 s	6.90 s	40 in	10 ft 9 in	14 rep
All values from NFL Combine[5]

Pittsburgh Steelers

Wallace was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft with the 84th overall selection. Wallace was the 11th wide receiver chosen in the draft. On June 18, 2009, Wallace signed a three year contract with the Steelers worth $1.740 million which included a $555,000 signing bonus. In Pittsburgh he was reunited with Keenan Lewis, who the Steelers selected just twelve picks after Wallace.

Wallace achieved his first 100-yard receiving game against the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2009; he had 7 receptions for 102 yards. On December 20, Wallace caught a game winning pass while falling out of bounds as time expired to defeat the Green Bay Packers, 37-36.^[6] The catch made him a hero in Pittsburgh and the receiver was named the winner of the “Joe Greene Great Performance Award”, which is awarded each season to the outstanding Steelers rookie.^[7] It was only his second catch of the game, but the first had been a 60 yard touchdown reception on the very first Steelers offensive snap.^[8]

Wallace finished his rookie season leading the entire league in average per reception with 19.4 yards.^[9]

2010 season

Following his promising rookie season and Santonio Holmes' trade to the New York Jets, Wallace was moved up the depth chart in 2010 to the #2 receiver spot behind Hines Ward.^[10]

In 2010, Wallace had a standout second season with the Steelers, establishing himself as one of the NFL's elite wideouts with 1,257 yards receiving (third most in the AFC) and 10 touchdowns. Wallace led the NFL with seven 100-yard receiving games.

Other individual accomplishments for Wallace during the 2010 season include:

• a 21.0-yard average per catch led the AFC^[9]
• just missed becoming only the third receiver in NFL history to lead the league in average per receptions in his first two seasons after leading with 19.4 as a rookie. DeSean Jackson of Philadelphia averaged 22.5 yards.^[9]

Mike helped the Steelers reach Super Bowl XLV in 2010, where he had nine catches for 89 yards and a touchdown. However, the Steelers lost to Green Bay 31-25. It was Wallace's first Super Bowl appearance. In the 2011 offseason Mike Wallace stated the he would like to reach 2,000 yards.

2011 season

Through week #8 of the regular season (eight games) Wallace has 43 catches (sixth in the NFL, second in the AFC) on 57 targets (tied for 22nd in the NFL, tied for tenth in the AFC) for 800 yards (fourth in the NFL, second in the AFC) and five touchdowns (tied for fourth in the NFL, tied for third in the AFC) but most remarkable is likely the 18.6 yards-per-reception averaged (sixth in the NFL; third in the AFC.)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Mike Wallace bio, University of Mississippi, retrieved January 27, 2009.
2. ^ Dulac, Gerry (April 27, 2009). "Profile of Steelers' third round draft picks Mike Wallace & Keenan Lewis". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on November 15, 2011. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09117/965876-66.stm. Retrieved November 15, 2011. 
3. ^ Ole Miss Blows Away Texas Tech In Cotton Bowl, Rivals.com, January 2, 2009, retrieved January 27, 2009.
4. ^ Mike Wallace, Mississippi, WR, 2009 NFL Draft Scout Profile, NFL Draft Scout, January 19, 2009, retrieved January 27, 2009.
5. ^ NFL Events: Combine Player Profiles - Mike Wallace
6. ^ Green Bay Packers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers - Recap - December 20, 2009 - ESPN
7. ^ Farrior and Wallace Earn Steelers’ 2009 Pro Football Writers Awards
8. ^ NFL Game Center: Green Bay Packers at Pittsburgh Steelers - 2009 Week 15
9. ^ ^{a b c} Bouchette, Ed (January 5, 2011). "On the Steelers: Quick hits". postgazette.com. PG Publishing Co.. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11005/1115570-66.stm#ixzz1AQk3QaxN. Retrieved January 8, 2011. 
10. ^ http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/21383/its-mike-wallaces-time-in-pittsburgh

External links

• Pittsburgh Steelers bio
• Ole Miss football bio

Persondata
Name	Wallace, Mike
Alternative names
Short description	American football player
Date of birth	August 1, 1986
Place of birth	New Orleans, Louisiana
Date of death
Place of death