CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Carolina Panthers rookie inside linebacker Trevin Wallace has two girls under the age of 2 and, like many children, they get excited at the sight of the Golden Arches and insist dad go through the drive-thru.
“I don’t even have to look at the menu,” Wallace said with a laugh. “I just say, ‘I want a No. 1, which is a Big Mac. Or a No. 6, which is the McNuggets.”’
Wallace knows the full menu by heart because at age 16 he began working at a McDonald’s in Jessup, Georgia, where his mom was the manager. He did everything from taking orders to flipping burgers to cleaning behind the grill late at night.
It was during those influential years that Wallace developed the “dawg mentality” that Carolina general manager Dan Morgan sought on draft night to help turn around a franchise that has suffered through six straight losing seasons.
Wallace hasn’t disappointed.
The third-round pick out of Kentucky has stood out more than any of Carolina’s other six draft picks, making big plays on almost a daily basis.
First-rounder Xavier Legette, between injuries and adjusting to the system, has yet to crack the top three wide receivers. Second-round running back Jonathon Brooks will miss at least the first four games while recovering from November ACL surgery in his right knee.
Fourth-round pick Ja’Tavion Sanders might be the tight end of the future, but he currently isn’t in the top two when everyone is healthy.
Seventh-round pick Michael Barrett, a linebacker out of Michigan, was in danger of not making the roster before being traded to the Seattle Seahawks for cornerback Michael Jackson.
Wallace has done nothing but excel behind starters Shaq Thompson and Josey Jewell. His interception of four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers during a joint practice before the second preseason game wasn’t even the play coach Dave Canales cited as being defining for the 72th-overall pick.
That play occurred in the preseason opener against the New England Patriots when Wallace came from the opposite side of the field to knock the receiver out of bounds at the 3-yard line.
“What a huge play,” Canales said. “I’ve seen over the years where if you can just give us one more shot, we’ve got a chance to get the ball back. That’s where the strain and effort and finish comes in, and that’s an example of who he is.”
That goes back to the work ethic Wallace developed at McDonald’s, where he often got up for a 5 a.m. shift after playing a high school game the night before. That’s the work ethic he got from his mother.
“She’s always telling me, ‘Hey, the world isn’t going to slow down for you. So you better get some money in your pocket while you can,”’ Wallace said.
“You have to have that mindset every play, keep going. It’s like a fight. When you’re in a fight you have to come in like, ‘I can’t let him beat me.”’
Wallace showed Morgan’s dawg mentality during a high school playoff game when he played every defensive snap and rushed 28 times for 382 yards and three touchdowns on offense.
He showed it when he broke his school’s long-jump record, held by former University of Georgia receiver Lindsay Scott, by 8 3/4 inches with a leap of 23 feet, 4 1/4 inches.
He showed it at Kentucky when he scored a game-changing touchdown as a freshman on a blocked field goal and as a junior when he intercepted a pass against Florida to set up a key touchdown.
“Always be around the ball because anything can happen,” Wallace said. “That’s my mentality. I have that light in my head that it’s always a different day, just keep calm and keep working, because at the end of the day, one slipup and you could be at the bottom of the barrel.”
Thompson said Wallace has the mentality that will lead to a successful NFL career. Canales called him a “natural football player,” reminding the sideline-to-sideline speed they saw before the draft has translated well.
“He’s big and he’s fast, and he’s got great hands,” Canales said. “That’s such a rare combination at the inside linebacker spot.”
Forcing turnovers has been a preseason emphasis for a team that ranked last in the NFL in takeaways last season with 11, with eight being interceptions.
Wallace intercepted Rodgers and Carolina quarterback Bryce Young in consecutive weeks.
“Not a lot of guys can say they picked off Aaron Rodgers, so that’s just special, you know, a future Hall of Famer,” Wallace said with a smile. “Even 10 years later, when people ask me, I can say, ‘Yeah, I picked off Aaron Rodgers.”’
Wallace didn’t talk any trash after the pick, reminding you have to “show respect.” But as he admitted on draft night, “I got a little swag to my game.”
That’s part of his dawg mentality.
“It might sound crazy, but dawg mentality to me is like you don’t care if you’re going to hurt somebody,” Wallace said. “It’s part of the game. You go in there and hurt somebody, and you’re like, ‘Hey, I did this and I’m going to do it again.’ ”
Wallace’s motivation is simple.
“I have a family of my own, two beautiful girls,” he said. “You come home and that’s who you feed, so that’s my motivation.”
And occasionally, he feeds them McDonald’s and is reminded of his experience that he hopes leads to a successful NFL career.
“It’s like my mom said, the world’s not going to stop for you,” Wallace said. “You’ve got to keep going and make money for yourself, because at the end of the day, you have to grow up on your own. It’s a workman’s mentality.”
