As the Elite 11 — the most prestigious high school quarterback competition in the country — winds down this week out at the Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., something is missing for Ohio State fans: The Buckeyes are without a competitor.
Ohio State’s quarterback commit in the 2016 class, Tristen Wallace, did not qualify for the Elite 11 finals. But that doesn’t mean Wallace isn’t among the nation’s best signal callers.
Wallace, who hails from DeSoto, Texas and attends the same high school as current Buckeye Dontre Wilson, is a four-star quarterback and the nation’s No. 3 dual-threat recruit in the 2016 class, according to 247Sports. He’s listed at 6-foot-3 and 228 pounds so he has prototypical size for the quarterback position at the college level. He can run the ball, and throw it, equally as well.
But despite being named a ‘standout’ and given the honor of ‘Most Talented’ by 247Sports at the Elite 11 Dallas Regional, Wallace didn’t earn an invitation to this week’s finals.
For Ohio State, that’s perfectly OK, as evident by this pair of recent tweets from the Buckeyes Director of Player Personnel, Mark Pantoni:
I don't get excited about QBs who can hit a net with a football. I get excited about QBs who can make plays with 300 lb DL running at them
— Mark Pantoni (@markpantoni) July 7, 2015
Go look up the rankings for the finalists of the 2012 Elite 11. You won't find @JT_theQB4th on there.
— Mark Pantoni (@markpantoni) July 7, 2015
Wallace doesn’t seem to mind, either. In fact, he said he doesn’t pay too much attention to the recruiting rankings, despite being one of the nation’s top prospects.
“I really don't worry about the rankings. The rankings don't mean anything,” Wallace said recently when he was on Ohio State’s campus for a one-day camp. “Ultimately it's where you go to college and how you pan out. Really, I just try to get better every day. Like I said, I try to soak everything in from every coach and everybody who tries to give me information. I don't look at how they say it, I look at what they're saying. I try to learn from it and apply it to my every day game.”
Still, Wallace gains some confidence in the fact he was the quarterback chosen by Ohio State in the 2016 class, despite not getting the opportunity to compete in the Elite 11 competition with other top quarterbacks in the country. There’s something comforting about that for Wallace and it’s also a driving force for the Texas signal caller.
“It just means I gotta work even harder. I mean, they chose me for a reason so I have to go out every day and just prove them right,” Wallace said. “Just try to get better and be coachable, that's the No. 1 thing with these coaches, just be coachable and take in everything that they're saying and just apply it to your game. It's a special feeling at the same time but it also makes you work even harder.”
