Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | fall 2002

FALL 2002
Home

Cover Story:
The Knoll

Feature Story:
Two voices

Departments:
Getting Started
Letters
On Campus
Alumni Profile
Association News
Giving
>>Sports

IT'S SHOWTIME FOR SENECA

Tom Kroeschell, Iowa State’s assistant athletic director for media relations, popped in the video.

And there was Cyclone quarterback Seneca Wallace, running, passing, dodging, speeding, scrambling, scoring, and most of all, impressing.

Wallace was last year’s Big 12 Conference Offensive Newcomer of the Year. He was the offensive Most Valuable Player of last year’s Independence Bowl. He had Craig Bohl, Nebraska’s defensive coordinator, saying, “Geez, he’s like trying to tackle the wind.” And this year, Iowa State is promoting Wallace as a candidate for college football’s top individual award: the Heisman Trophy.

Kroeschell said 400 to 500 people will receive the all-Seneca tape. The idea is to get it and other promotional materials in the hands of as many Heisman voters as possible.

But it’s not like Wallace is a tough guy to pitch.

He averaged 229 yards of total offense per game last year. He completed a Big12 record 18 straight passes against the Baylor Bears. And he helped the Cyclones convert 46 percent of their third downs into first downs.

“He’s proven he’s one of the most exciting players in college football,” said Cyclone Head Coach Dan McCarney.

And it only took Wallace one year to do that.

“It’s just amazing to me how fast he learned,” McCarney said. “He will not make the same mistake twice. He has a great work ethic. He’s humble, coachable, appreciative, and respectable.”

Wallace – a senior in sociology from Sacramento, Calif., who wants to work with kids one day – isn’t shy about stating his goals for the season.

“I just want to go out and have a great season, a winning season, and get back to a bowl game,” Wallace said. That would make him four-for-four in getting to bowl games (including two at Sacramento City Junior College).

But what about all those big games in Kansas City, Iowa City, Norman, Austin, and Boulder on the schedule this year?

“This is what we play for,” Wallace said. “It’s what we work hard for – to play against those teams at their house. We’ll still go out and fight it and play.”