Men’s Basketball: Eric Wallace Featured in Michigan Program – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Reporting for Duty
Freshman Eric Wallace had excellent preparation for any challenges he will face at Ohio State
Most freshmen have a great deal of anxiety when they go off to college. Being away from their family for the first time is tough on an 18-year old. When you combine being a part of a varsity sport with the school workload and being in an unfamiliar place homesickness can become a reality.
But that was not the case for Eric Wallace, a freshman on the OSU basketball team. His life, in fact, became a little bit easier.
Wallace, from Winston-Salem, N.C., attended Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia his senior year to ready him for the college experience.
“The transition has gone well for me,” Wallace said. “Hargrave really prepared me to come into a college environment.”
Wallace’s duties at Hargrave required an early wake-up call, so the eight and nine o’clock classes this year haven’t been as difficult to get up for.
“I was up at 5 a.m. every morning,” Wallace said. “I was in a leadership position; I was captain of my corps, so I was in charge of about 100 people.”
Hargrave, located in the town of Chatham, is situated on a 216-acre campus in rural Virginia. It has long since been a haven for future big time players, putting more than 10 players at Division I colleges and universities the past few years.
“The military and prep schools prepare you so well because you’re going up against top notch competition every day in practice,” Wallace said. “We had a former college coach (Kevin Keatts, Marshall University) and he knew how to prepare players for college. The biggest thing was coming into the arena and seeing 19,000 people at a basketball game.”
His year at Hargrave started out rocky, much like you would expect being on your own for the first time.
“At first it was kind of different,” Wallace said. “No one really had respect for anybody, but as the year went on we got accustomed to each other. It was a learning experience. It made me grow as a person, a leader and as a player all at the same time.”
Since his arrival at Ohio State, Wallace said the team aspect of the basketball program has been a huge factor in helping him and his fellow freshmen adjust to their new lives in Columbus. The closeness among teammates has been a staple every season since Thad Matta’s arrival.
“We’re always together,” Wallace said. “We always joke around with each other, but if anyone needs something, we’re there for each other.”
Like most college freshmen, Wallace was ready to start a new chapter in his life.
“You’re kind of ready for the independence when you’re 18 and 19,” Wallace said regarding moving away to college. “I’m enjoying it, but I’m missing my mom and little sister. I call them and let them know how class and practice is going.”
The distance has been a bigger nuisance to his family, rather than Wallace himself. They’ve been used to watching him in person the past four years. Now that he is hundreds of miles away, it is not possible for them to be courtside every night.
“They went to the games at Madison Square Garden and Tennessee,” Wallace said. “My dad came to the Florida game and I was able to ride back with him for Christmas break. They’ll definitely be heading up for a couple more games.”
Even though Wallace is playing Division I college basketball as opposed to high school, he has found that he has more free time this year than last season. For a college student, though, it is not always easy to resist the temptations of laziness.
“Sometimes you want to be lazy and go to sleep when you have free time, but you know you have something to do, whether it’s homework or going to see a tutor,” Wallace said. “You learn to manage your time and I think the coaches and our academic advisors do a good job at setting up our schedules so we don’t get into trouble.”
Thanks to his preparation, Wallace is having no trouble with classes and a new schedule, but also if Matta tells him to drop and do 20 push-ups. That is exactly the kind of regiment this new Buckeye has trained for.
