In a lot of ways, A.J. Wallace is home.
Where football is concerned, he has found a home on defense at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he transferred this summer after redshirting as a freshman last season at Arkansas State.
He’s also home in the more traditional sense, though, with the former area prep standout for Chattanooga Christian School and South Pittsburg back in a city where he grew up, this time with a chance to develop, compete and get on the field for a UTC team that has the talent to be competitive this season.
Wallace’s reason for transferring was simple: He wanted to be back, and after spending his lone season at Arkansas State moving back and forth between offense and defense with former University of Tennessee coach Butch Jones’ Red Wolves — who compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision’s Sun Belt Conference — Wallace entered the NCAA transfer portal.
He was immediately contacted by UTC safeties coach Wolf Shafer, who flatly asked one question: “What position do you want to play?”