Cody Wallace bounced from five different teams and had never started an NFL game before he came to the Steelers at the beginning of the 2013 season.
Now he has to get ready and do something he has done before — step in for injured All-Pro center Maurkice Pouncey.
Wallace has had six career starts since coming to the Steelers — four at center and two at left guard for Ramon Foster. He will add to that number after Pouncey broke his left fibula Sunday against the Green Bay Packers and will be out indefinitely.
Coach Mike Tomlin said Pouncey will have surgery, and the Steelers are hoping their four-time Pro Bowl center can return sometime this season.
“That’s the really good thing — Cody is ready at all times,” Foster said. “He’s been in this league for a while and knows how to play, so you can always count on him.”
Not that there is much good to be gleaned from losing Pouncey before the regular season even begins.
“It shuts the whole stadium down for a while,” Foster said. “He does bring a different vibe when he’s in there.”
Now there will be a different vibe with Wallace, 30.
He got a lot of reps with the first team at Saint Vincent College when Pouncey began training camp on the physically unable to perform list. And he will get more Saturday night when the Steelers play their fourth preseason game in Buffalo.
But the Steelers likely will be cautious with Wallace because the only other realistic replacement on the roster is guard Chris Hubbard, who began working at center just this past week and played there Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.
“It’s been my job to be ready,” Wallace said. “This is my eighth year now and I’ve always been a backup guy. So that’s kind of something you got to be ready for — left and right [guard] and a center in between. It’s about film study and knowing the guys up front and being on top of the game plan.”
Wallace made his first start in 2013 when Pouncey tore his ACL in the season opener and missed the rest of the season. But Wallace wasn’t the initial replacement. Fernando Velasco was signed the following week and started the next 11 games before he, too, had a season-ending knee injury. Wallace then started the final four games of the regular season.
Last year, Wallace started two games at left guard after Foster was injured in week 2 in Baltimore. Now he gets the call again and, barring any setback, will be the starting center 17 days from now in New England.
“They want a guy who can go in and make the calls, communicate and the players feel comfortable with,” Wallace said. “Hopefully the coaches have that same kind of comfort in me. Hopefully everybody has a good level of comfort.”
Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com and Twitter @gerrydulac.
First Published: August 24, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
