Jonathan Wallace to make first start at quarterback

True freshman Jonathan Wallace will make his debut as Auburn’s starting quarterback against New Mexico State on Saturday, Auburn coach Gene Chizik announced at his Tuesday morning press conference.

Wallace will start his first career start against the NMSU after a strong performance in the second half of last week’s loss to Texas A&M. He went 6-for-9 for 122 yards with two touchdowns – the first of his career – and added 13 carries for 71 yards against Texas A&M.

“We thought that after going back and looking at the film and really reviewing it that he really played well,” Chizik said. “Jonathan’s one of these guys that’s very mature kind of beyond his years. He prepares that way, he was up here all day (Monday) on his own just watching film. Not that that’s the first day he’s done that. He’s just a little bit different.”

Wallace came off the bench and helped lead all three Auburn scoring drives against Texas A&M. The Phenix City native is excited for his chance to start.

“I was very excited. I also knew there was a lot of responsibility behind it,” Wallace said. “You’ve got to win. I’m just going to go out, have fun with my teammates and get a win.”

Wallace completed his first career touchdown pass – a 27-yard touchdown toss to tight end C.J. Uzomah – which made it 49-14 with 9:47 left in the third quarter against Texas A&M. He later had a 27-yard TD pass to Emory Blake.

“Jonathan works real hard,” Blake said. “He knows the offense inside and out. He’s one of those guys that has watched film ever since he got on campus. He’s worked hard for this position.”

Wallace also made some plays with his feet out of the Wildcat formation, which had been the entirety of his role prior to Saturday’s game. Wallace has 27 carries for 106 yards this season.

“He brought that running ability that he has,” Uzomah said. “He’s a really hard runner, runs downhill. We just rallied around him. He came into the game, he wasn’t nervous, he wasn’t timid with anything he did, he was very confident in himself and we’re confident in him. We rallied around him and tried to make plays and that’s what he did, he tried to make plays.”

Wallace will be Auburn’s third starting quarterback in nine games.

Kiehl Frazier started the first five games and was replaced by Clint Moseley at halftime of the Arkansas game. Moseley started the past three games while Frazier was out with an undisclosed shoulder injury.

Moseley was knocked on the third offensive play last Saturday when he was sacked by Sean Porter and Frazier came in and went 6-for-11 for 89 yards and was sacked four times before Wallace took over.

Chizik said Moseley, who has an unspecified left ankle injury, would not practice Tuesday night and his status for Saturday is still undetermined.

“We don’t know exactly yet,” Chizik said of Moseley, who is 38-for-60 for 373 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions this season. “It’s going to be a struggle right now as the week wears on to see where he ends up in terms of being able to dress out and play.”

Chizik said Frazier’s shoulder is getting better but still not 100 percent. Frazier will be the backup for Saturday’s game and Ricardo Louis can be used in an emergency, Chizik said. Louis ran twice out of the Wildcat formation for two yards on Saturday.

The Tigers hope Wallace will be able to match his success last week as a starter this week.

“It was really neat on the sideline to watch as he made a couple of drives happen and go down the field,” Chizik said. “It sparked some energy and some passion into our bench on both sides of the ball.”

Running back Tre Mason feels the offense, which ranks 123rd of 124 Division I teams in total offense, needs a spark and thinks Wallace can be the guy to provide it.

“We really do need a spark and maybe he can do the job, we’re not sure but he showed some pretty good things on film from last Saturday,” Mason said of Wallace. “Coach Chiz always told him, he has that ‘it’ and we don’t know what that ‘it’ is but it’s something that not a lot of people have.

“He just came in ready to go. A lot of people would say they come in ready to go but it seems like he’s done this before and this is actually his first year. It seems like he has the mindset of a senior or somebody who’s been here for a while.”