Tylan Wallace is Back on the Field and 'Looks Good'
STILLWATER – The past five months have felt like five years. It’s been a tough go of things during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but Oklahoma State was back on the football field for the first time since March with the start of fall camp on Wednesday. So, there was some sense of normalcy and it felt great to speak with some coaches and players, albeit socially distanced through Zoom.
One of the players made available for the media was receiver Tylan Wallace. This is the first time we’ve gotten to talk to Tylan in several months and it came at a great time as Tylan was back on the field participating in football drills.
“He looks good,” Kasey Dunn said of Tylan Wallace being back on the football field. “He moved around well today and we’re getting him out there and trying to protect him as much as we possibly can and just get him confident on that leg and on that knee. But after practice, it looks and sounded like he felt pretty good. Very encouraging there and I’m excited that we get Tylan back. Great player and a great kid and he’s such an impact for our team, even just as a person. So, him on the field is a huge boost for us.”
Wallace suffered a season-ending knee injury when he tore his ACL during the week leading up to the game against TCU this past season. That was the first week of November and it takes at least six months to full recover from that injury. So, the shutdown in March really hindered his rehab process as he was no longer allowed to be on campus and in the facilities with the health staff. However, Wallace found a way.
“That was tough for me,” Wallace said about having to rehab his knee at home. “At home, I was trying to make it work with whatever I had. At one point, I was doing squats with a 40-pound box of cat litter, so I was trying to do anything I could to make it work. I was working out at home in my living room, I was jogging around trails, I was doing whatever I could to stay in shape. It was tough, but it was definitely worth it now.
“Coming in and actually going into the training room and actually doing rehab stuff where they have the right equipment and everything that I need was definitely a big boost from a cat litter box. But I think that was definitely a big help with me and my rehab process.”
The best always finds a way, right?
We’ve been living in unprecedented times over the past five months and we’re already looking at an unprecedented college football season with conference-only schedules, mandatory quarantines and social distancing and full-length face masks for every football player. Tylan Wallace made the best of a terrible situation by rehabbing his knee with kitty litter and running on trails. Here’s to hoping he gets to finish his Oklahoma State career on a high note.
