Gary Patterson has built his defense on a combination of speed and smarts, needing to fill the 4-2-5 with players that embody one or both of those characteristics. In safety signee Garret Wallow he gets both in a player that brings the heat in the defensive backfield.
Though he doesn’t have the kind of straight line speed that jumps off the page at you, Wallow is ‘football fast’, flying to the ball, diagnosing plays on the run, and closing on wide receivers like a heat-seeking missile in the open field. At 6’3” he has excellent size for the position, and moves with fluidity sideline to sideline.