In a span of four years, Tucson High School graduate Levi Wallace went from unnoticed to hard to miss.
The player who walked on at Alabama in 2014, and then started last season at cornerback for the Crimson Tide, took part in the NFL Scouting Combine on Monday at Indianapolis.
Wallace ran the 40-meter dash in an unofficial 4.48 seconds (later listed at 4.63 seconds), recorded a 33-inch vertical leap and had this impressive leap during one drill:
THIS. MAN. GOT. UP.@LeviWallace39 🔥🔥🔥 @AlabamaFTBL#NFLCombine pic.twitter.com/pEr60oJGQQ
— NFL (@NFL) March 5, 2018
Wallace told the Alabama Media Group the skinny 18-year old version of himself might believe he’d one day be at the NFL combine.
“He’d probably believe it,” Wallace said Sunday. “I had a lot of confidence in myself not knowing where I’d be. But if I would have told myself, it definitely would have motivated me looking back. I’d probably believe it but then I’d probably be a little in shock. I’m blessed. It’s a dream come true. It’s a great experience being here.”
Wallace added that “there was never a doubt in my mind” that he would be a successful football player in college playing for famed coach Nick Saban.
Former Tucson High School standout Levi Wallace ran the 40-meter dash in 4.63 seconds on Monday at the NFL Scouting Combine (NFL.com picture)
“I believed I was a great football player coming out of high school,” Wallace said. “I played with a lot of confidence. It wouldn’t have shocked me too much. I would have told myself ‘You better do good at the combine.'”
Because of his storybook background of making it big from obscurity as a walk-on to a starter on a national title team, Wallace said he drew attention from NFL teams during the interview process.
“Teams love my story,” Wallace said. “They love me being a walk on. It shows a lot of adversity, a lot of character. Some can’t believe it watching my film. They didn’t know I was a walk on, just the way I played. I guess that goes to me and Coach Saban teaching me everything that I know.”
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
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