Watch out for Mike Wallace, who’s poised to break on through to a new level of awesome as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ No. 2 wide receiver.
When I first interview Mike Wallace in October of last year, his on-field acrobatics are beginning to pique the interest of Steeler Nation’s every member. The rookie, drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round from the University of Mississippi, was making noticeable moves each Sunday to increase his status in the team’s wide receiver ranks.
Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Wallace, photographed on location at the Steelers UPMC Practice Facilities in the South Side.
In his very first season in the NFL, Wallace had the great opportunity to play alongside two Super Bowl MVPs: Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes. Not only did he get to learn from his teammates on the field, but he was also offered their support and advice (though perhaps in a tough love kind of way). Since then, his relationship with Ward has been “getting even stronger. He’s on me even more than he was before, tough about anything I do. Every move I make, he’s on me. I look at him like a big brother, and I appreciate everything he’s done for me,” says Wallace.
Much of Ward’s advice sticks in Wallace’s mind. Among the most influential lessons: “Be a professional. That’s the main thing. Watch what you do; watch the people you’re hanging around. Just be a pro: not [only] on the field, but off the field as well. You have to stay focused. You know, just the main, basic things: Give back. Never forget where you come from.”
On September 12, when the Steelers take on the Atlanta Falcons at Heinz Field, all eyes will be on Wallace to do more than just intrigue us with a few fantastic catches. With Holmes’ off-season departure to the New York Jets, the stakes have been raised for Wallace, and every Steeler fan, coach, and player is expecting so much more of him. The door is open wide for him to step in and step up to a new level of performance. Steelers Wide Receivers Coach Scottie Montgomery is familiar with Wallace’s potential and agrees that he “absolutely” has a big opportunity this season. The coach has been working to develop the 24-year-old into a wide receiver who can confidently and successfully play every down. In other words, a wide receiver with “big-play capability.”
“As a first-year player, he struggled sometimes [with playing] every single down, the nuances of the game, being able to play the game a lot in a new system,” says Montgomery. “I think you’ll see a little bit more consistency in him in being able to play several different positions, and I’ve kind of put a lot on him to learn more than one position. That’s one of the biggest things we have to look forward to with Mike, is being able to put him in other places, and everyone feels that [the opposing team] won’t know exactly where he is all the time.”
Off the field, Wallace is working to figure out all of the responsibilities, pressures, and expectations that come with the fame and recognition of being a National League Football player. A few of the “WHIRL girls” bumped into Wallace this past May at Oakmont Country Club for the St. Jude Children’s Hospital Champions for Hope Gala, which he was attending along with Mike and Kiya Tomlin. Back in the office, we wondered how Head Coach Tomlin, or “Coach T” as Wallace calls him, has been working to help Wallace develop into a star Steeler. “He’s on me every day!” says Wallace with a laugh. “He gives me guidance every day. He and Hines — they’re both on me. They know the potential I have, and they know what it’s gonna be. They just want me to stay focused.”
Earlier this summer, when I have the chance to talk with Wallace after an afternoon of OTA practice at the Steelers practice facilities on the South Side, I make sure to ask about his hometown of New Orleans. I’m wondering how the city, which, this year at least, has been so prominent in worldwide news and discussion because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, has played a significant role in shaping him.
When I ask, What’s your favorite thing about New Orleans?, he repeats the question back to me incredulously — and with a huge smile. “It’s home,” he says, definitively. “Everybody is down there, my whole family.”
For Wallace, it seems the love and pride he has for Louisiana is overarching, abundant, and somewhat indescribable. He doesn’t have a favorite place in the city, nor can he name a favorite restaurant there. Well, not exactly. Instead he prefers the meals his mom, Sonjia (whose name is tattooed broadly across his bicep), makes. “She cooks for me all the time, every day,” he says. “She cooks the best food. There’s nothin’ better than my mom.”
So, when he’s in Pittsburgh for the season, cooking has the potential to become a bit of an issue. To avert a could-be culinary crisis, “I just call my mom. If I really want some food I just call her. She’ll walk me through it.”
Wallace spends his summers between OTAs and training camp in the Big Easy, which, he notes during our interview, is also the hometown of Lil’ Wayne. “I always get the chance to run into him,” he says.
Jay-Z is another favorite rapper who Wallace has had the chance to meet. And even though he looks at Jay-Z as a superstar, Wallace was able to play it cool when they met after Jay-Z’s concert in March at Mellon Arena. “I just said [to him], ‘How you doing? I like what you do.’”
Speaking of superstars, if he wasn’t a football player, Wallace says that he would still want a job that would provide him with that same level of notoriety. “I have to be a superstar, so I’d probably have to be an actor or something. Even though I’m kind of shy when it comes down to it, I still like it.”
Being shy and having the ambition to be super-famous don’t exactly mesh, I say. Wallace explains, “I know that’s the business we’re in, so I accept it and understand that people want to look up to me. I just want to be a good role model and give back to the community.”
Wallace is definitely shy, but at the same time, it’s clear that he has a lot of confidence. In closely coaching Wallace, Montgomery has had the chance to see a more outgoing side break through. “From a personality standpoint, I think Mike is one of the most fun-loving type of guys that you run into. He’s one of those guys who really enjoys the game. At the end of the day, if there’s one thing that he cares about more than anything, it’s being really good at whatever he does, so I’m really, really happy to be able to coach him, but his personality is great. If you talk to him for five or 10 minutes, it may take you a while to break in on him, but within that five or 10 minutes you’re gonna get about 25 smiles. That’s one of the great things about him.”
Keenan Lewis, one of the Steelers’ cornerbacks, is Wallace’s best friend from childhood, and agrees that his BFF is a funny guy who likes to joke around. The teammates were roommates in the St. Vincent College dorms at training camp this summer. “Mike snores,” says Lewis. Despite that slight problem, “Just having someone I can relate to and talk to on a daily basis has really made camp that much easier.”
When they’re not on the field, they play videogames. “He thinks he’s the king at Playstation 3,” says Lewis. The duo (who favor Madden NFL 11 and NBA2K) have a great deal more in common than that, starting with the shared advice they’ve been receiving through many playing on the same football teams. “I think we’re both trying to work hard and be the best that we can be. That’s what some of our high school coaches, college coaches, NFL coaches try to impress on us. So, I think we just take that years, and go with it.”
Wallace says that in the future, he’d like to start a summer football camp for kids with Lewis, a camp similar to those that many of his fellow Steelers head up. The advice he wants to one day impart to his students? “Focus. A lot of focus and determination. It’s gonna be pretty hard. It’s going to be a long road. But you’re gonna see a light at the end of the tunnel. Stick to your goals and your dreams. My whole life, that’s all I wanted to do was play football, so it was a dream come true just to have a chance to do it. But if not, just go hard and do your best, and I figure everything will work out for you.”
Pittsburgh Steelers, steelers.com.
