Penn State offensive tackle Caedan Wallace set to return for 2023 season
Penn State will return both of its starting offensive tackles for the 2023 season. Following Olu Fashanu’s announcement to forgo the NFL Draft and return next year, redshirt junior Caedan Wallace has announced the same to Blue White Illustrated at Rose Bowl media day.
“I’m definitely coming back,” Wallace said. “I want to be with my guys for my fifth year.”
Caedan Wallace’s 2022 season
A mainstay on the Nittany Lions’ offensive line the past three seasons, Wallace’s 2022 campaign was derailed by injury at its midpoint. Registering seven starts at right tackle, Wallace wouldn’t return to action after Penn State’s win over Minnesota on Oct. 22. He was hurt on a Nick Singleton 13-yard carry in the third quarter.
In the time since, Wallace has practiced at varying points but didn’t return to action. Instead, Bryce Effner stepped in to start Penn State’s final five games of the regular season at the position.
Admittedly frustrated by the physical setback, Wallace said he was determined to stand in support of his teammates in his absence.
“That was my first real injury that would take me away from any games. So it was a little weird, but I had to move forward,” Wallace said. “I always wanted to be there for my teammates. I never wanted to be a hindrance, being upset or something like that. So, I always wanted to be there for my guys.”
Penn State career highlights
Listed at 6-foot-5, 301 pounds, Wallace was a member of Penn State’s Class of 2019. He played sparingly in four games during his redshirt season, but would go on to earn the starting job in 2020, playing 415 total snaps. He earned his highest grade from Pro Football Focus that season, scoring a 68.3
Wallace was up and down in 2021. Starting in all 13 games, he got off to a rough start that season, but did finish the season with some much strong performances, most notably in the bowl game against Arkansas. His grade of 73.4 in that game, according to PFF, was among the top three of his career.
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Next steps
Focusing on his teammates while injured late this season, now Wallace will get a chance to double down on that reality with the Nittany Lions in 2023.
“I was never questioning it. There’s no doubt about it,” Wallace said. “I’m really excited to come back with my guys and be a leader in the room again, just continue to build what we’re already doing.”
For Wallace in particular, that will look like a commitment to refining the steps he’s taken to this point in his career. Beginning with the Rose Bowl, in which he’s been practicing and says he feels “a lot better” but did not commit to playing in the game, those steps forward can start to take shape.
“It’s kind of the same as the years in the past, just consistency. And then like the little details, run game and pass game,” Wallace said. “Just bringing my game all together. And then on top of that, just life, growing as a person, growing as a human, growing as a man.”
