Tigers hope Wallace can bring his own noise

The noise could be heard from well beyond the practice field behind the Auburn Athletic Complex on Monday night. The Tigers were practicing with artificial crowd noise cranking in the background, a common practice when preparing for a loud road environment.

Auburn (3-9, 0-7 SEC) travels to Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium for the Iron Bowl on Saturday afternoon. The 77th meeting of the teams will be the first career road start for Auburn true freshman quarterback Jonathan Wallace and the noise will be louder than anything he’s experienced to date.

“It’s just a matter of keeping your composure, staying poised and not letting it get to you,” Wallace said. “It’s going to be very loud there. They have a really big stadium and really loud fans. You’ve just got to play around it.”

Wallace, who is 41-for-66 for 649 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions and has 46 carries for 146 yards, has never been to an Iron Bowl game. The Phenix City native watched the games growing up and knows its importance to the state but until he’s on the field, won’t know for himself what the experience is like.

Making it even more difficult is the top-ranked defense of No. 2 Alabama (10-1, 6-1). The Crimson Tide rank best in the SEC in scoring, total defense, pass and rush defense. Auburn offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler said Alabama will be the toughest challenge for the Auburn offense this season.

“I’m seeing everything, everything you can imagine, that a defense can run,” Wallace said. “They have an NFL-type defense. They bring everything. They do a lot of things. It’s going to be kind of like Georgia, maybe a little more.”

Wallace was 15-for-22 for 181 yards with an interception and had 11 carries for nine yards due to three sacks against the then-No. 5 Bulldogs.

Still, Wallace has shown poise and maturity beyond his years. Since he fumbled against Vanderbilt, he has protected the ball far better and avoided the rush far better than backups Kiehl Frazier and Clint Moseley.

So Wallace, a freshman making just his fourth career start and first on the road, a player recruited in the 11th hour by Auburn, will lead the Tigers offense in the Iron Bowl. Wallace’s journey is still hard for even him to believe.

He’s excited for the opportunity – and who wouldn’t be – but more importantly Wallace recognizes his performance Saturday will go a long way to defining his collegiate career.

“It’s one of the things that’s going to be remembered forever, no matter what year you played or what your part was,” Wallace said. “It’s always going to be remembered. Ten, 20, 30 years from now, people are still going to be talking about it. It’s that important.”