Small size, big fight

Wallis not backing down from anything

Graham Thomas/Herald-Leader When it comes to Siloam Springs senior safety Nolan Wallis, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. Wallis, who stands 5-foot-6, 140 pounds, has been one of the Panthers’ top defensive players in the first three weeks of the season with 19 total tackles, two forced fumbles and one interception.
Graham Thomas/Herald-Leader When it comes to Siloam Springs senior safety Nolan Wallis, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. Wallis, who stands 5-foot-6, 140 pounds, has been one of the Panthers’ top defensive players in the first three weeks of the season with 19 total tackles, two forced fumbles and one interception.

Take a glance at Nolan Wallis and football player is probably the last thing that comes to mind.

He's short in stature, standing 5-foot-6, and coaches joke that he might weigh 140 pounds soaking wet. Frankly, he's not very big and not very fast either.

But Wallis has something that football coaches across Arkansas and all around the country would take any day over the blazing speed, strength and pure talent. Wallis is a fighter, who's not afraid to get physical and mix it up with opponents who are bigger, stronger and faster than he is.

"He's the proverbial 'not the size of the dog in the fight but the fight in the dog,'" said Siloam Springs secondary coach Cole Harriman.

Wallis has been one of Siloam Springs' top defensive players through the first three weeks of the season as the Panthers get ready to travel to Sheridan on Friday to open 6A-West Conference play.

He's got 19 total tackles, two forced fumbles and in last Friday's 35-21 win against Van Buren he recorded his first interception to help the Panthers finish off their first victory.

"(Wallis) perfectly exemplifies that you don't have to be a physical specimen to play football," said Siloam Springs head coach Bryan Ross. "I mean he's not very big, not very fast, but he's smart and he's passionate and he wants to. Smarts and hearts will take you a long way in the game of football. I've been really, really impressed with the work that Nolan has done."

Wallis has had plenty of motivation since he started playing football for Siloam Springs in seventh-grade.

"When I started playing football in the seventh grade people told me I wasn't going to be able to do it," Wallis said. "Since then it's really been me trying to prove them wrong. Now that I'm a senior I'm starting and I feel like I've proved them wrong."

Wallis likes the "fight in the dog" analogy, and he's not the only Panther that gets compared to that.

"You look at Dillon Conn, that boy shouldn't be able to do the things that he does," Wallis said of the 5-10, 187-pound Conn, who starts at center on the offensive line for Siloam Springs. "He shouldn't be able to block some of the guys that he does. He said a few weeks ago, 'it's not about the size of the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog.' When you've got as much heart as I do, you can accomplish anything you want."

Wallis recalled some of the tough licks he's taken over the years. One his freshman year really stands out when he went one on one with then senior all-state linebacker David Goodman, who stood 6-2 and weighed 240 pounds.

"They had me at running back and he smoked me," Wallis said. "But I'd do it again if I had to. I'll go against anybody."

Wallis' pick in the fourth quarter last week helped the Panthers wrap up their win against Van Buren, but he was also instrumental in helping the Panthers make a few stops in the running game.

"He isn't afraid of anything," Ross said. "He's going to throw himself in there, and he made a couple of plays on the goal line the other night. No way that he should be if you just look at him, there's no way that he should be in there making plays like that. But you know that's why you play the game. A lot of times you wind up with kids that have a knack. They understand and they want to."

Harriman said, schematically, Wallis almost played like another linebacker in last Friday's game.

"Most of his tackles were at the line of scrimmage or there in the box," Harriman said. "He's a guy we can do that with. He's really impressed me too, pass coverage wise. He's a guy that we have to tell him everything just one time. He'll pick it up and he knows from there on out. He's a guy that will get us lined up right and make adjustments for us."

For his performance against Van Buren, Wallis earned the Panthers' "Grinder of the Week" award, receiving an old beat-up lunch pail full of snacks and treats.

He's hoping to carry that momentum into this week's game against Sheridan.

"Definitely it's going to be a fight," Wallis said. "They're 0-3 right now. They're hungry. They're wanting a win. So if we don't play to the best of our abilities like we should, it'll be bad. But if we play like we did against Rogers and then against Van Buren I think we'll be all right."

Sports on 09/20/2017