Former EMCC All-American and Ole Miss Rebel Bo Wallace returns to Scooba campus as assistant football coach

SCOOBA – Bo Wallace, a former NJCAA All-America quarterback and three-year starter at Ole Miss, has returned to East Mississippi Community College to become an assistant football coach on Buddy Stephens' Lions coaching staff.

After directing the unbeaten EMCC Lions to the 2011 NJCAA National Championship as the NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year, Wallace went on to start all 39 games of his Ole Miss career in leading the Rebels to three straight bowl games.  Most recently, the Pulaski, Tennessee native served this past season as the quarterbacks coach at Marshall County High School in Lewisburg, Tennessee, where he helped mentor his younger brother Bryce.

"I'm very excited about returning to EMCC and the Scooba campus," said Wallace.  "We were able to win our first national championship when I was a player here, and now I'm looking forward to helping the Lions contend for more championships as a coach."     

Upon graduation from Ole Miss, Wallace attended rookie minicamp with the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs and entertained offers from Canadian Football League teams.  He earned his start in the coaching profession during the 2015 season as an assistant football coach at the Episcopal School of Dallas.

Wallace, who redshirted the 2010 season at Arkansas State University, paid immediate dividends during his transfer season at EMCC.  Selected to the 2011 NJCAA All-American First Team, he established new NJCAA single-season standards for most passing yards (4,604), most yards of total offense (4,810) and most touchdowns thrown (53).  Along with completing 67 percent (336-of-502) of his passes, Wallace also rushed for 206 yards and five touchdowns on 61 carries to lead East Mississippi to the school's first of three national football titles earned over a four-year span (2011-14).

"We take great pride here at East Mississippi Community College in welcoming back our alumni and taking care of our graduates," Stephens noted.  "We're extremely excited to have Bo Wallace join our offensive coaching staff and look forward to putting him right to work."

Wallace's prolific 2011 campaign through the air included five games with 400 or more passing yards and four outings with seven touchdown passes.  He capped his record-setting season by garnering Offensive Game MVP honors following the Lions' 55-47 El Toro Bowl victory over previously unbeaten Arizona Western College in the NJCAA Football Championship Game played in Yuma, Arizona.  A three-time NJCAA Offensive Player of the Week selection that season, Wallace was also tabbed the 2011 Region 23 Most Valuable Player as well as the Offensive Back MVP of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges' (MACJC) North Division.

During his three seasons (2012-14) playing for head coach Hugh Freeze's Ole Miss Rebels, Wallace set school records for total offensive yards (10,478), completion percentage (63.0), pass efficiency (140.8) and 300-yard passing games (11).  He finished his career ranked second in school history in passing yards (9,534), completions (747), attempts (1,186) and passing touchdowns (62).  A Maxwell Award and Davey O'Brien Award semifinalist as a senior, Wallace claimed the 2012 Conerly Trophy as the top college football player in Mississippi and was a finalist for the award the following year as a junior.   

Wallace completed his prep playing days at Pulaski's Giles County High School ranked fifth all-time in Tennessee high school history with 8,778 career yards of total offense and seventh all-time with 6,395 career passing yards.  In leading the Bobcats to the 2009 Class 4A state championship with a 14-1 record, Wallace was chosen as the All-Midstate Player of the Year by The Tennessean newspaper and Region 12-4A MVP as a senior after throwing for 3,288 yards and 37 touchdowns with only five interceptions on 205-of-293 (70%) passing.  He also rushed 907 yards and 10 touchdowns on 137 attempts to account for a state-record 4,195 yards of total offense and 47 touchdowns during his final prep campaign. 

Wallace is the son of Bill and Trina Wallace, of Pulaski, Tennessee.