#18

Garner Wallace

Senior defensive back on Northwestern's 2026 roster.

DB · Northwestern · Sr. · #18

6′4″ · 220 lb · Pickerington, OH

CFB Index 39 · #370 of 544 safetiesLow confidenceReturning to Northwestern for 2026

Next upSat Sep 19 · 7:30 pm ETvs ColoradoLanny and Sharon Martin StadiumNorthwestern by 3.5

Recruiting

3★

S recruit

No. 953 nationally · Signed with Northwestern

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 defensive back on Northwestern's 2025 roster.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Northwestern in 2021.

His career, year by year

How he projects

Moves between deep coverage and the slot.

The full scouting read

Garner Wallace

DB · Northwestern · Sr · #18

Moves between deep coverage and the slot. Garner Wallace has played for two head coaches in four seasons at Northwestern. The receipt: 8 tackles against Tulane — Week 1, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2022Northwestern1-11HC: Pat Fitzgerald · Balanced

2023Northwestern8-5HC: David Braun · Run-leaning

2024Northwestern4-8HC: David Braun · Balanced, slow tempo

2025Northwestern7-6HC: David Braun · Run-leaning

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

39Below cohort / limited sample #370 of 544?

Medium confidenceAscending6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: solo tackles (80th percentile). Concern: qb hurries (22nd percentile).

Box-score production (6)

Solo tackles#559 / 2975 · 80th pct

Tackles#729 / 2975 · 75th pct

Sacks#1367 / 2975 · 51st pct

0.5

Passes defended#1191 / 2975 · 48th pct

Tackles for loss#1936 / 2975 · 28th pct

1.0

QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home7g	3.3	0.1	0.1	0.0
Road4g	5.5	0.0	0.0	0.2

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-76g	4.0	0.1	0.1	0.2
Weeks 8+5g	4.2	0.1	0.0	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

David Braun

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 1 game in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Part-time starter

Tackle volume for the position in part-time-starter range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

39 · #370 of 544 safeties

Three-star recruit. Now #370 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-Big Ten

Based on 2025: #59 of 77 Big Ten DBs

How the All-Big Ten estimate is computed

15% estimated, 95% confidence interval 13–17%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Northwestern	45	29	1.0	0.5	1	--	--
2024	Northwestern	8	3	0.0	0.0	1	--	--
2023	Northwestern	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
2022	Northwestern	9	7	0.0	0.0	--	--	--
Career		62	39	1.0	0.5	2	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 7 · 2025

W 22–21

at Penn State

4 TOT · 3 SOLO

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 1 on the road.

With P. Stone — 163 yds · 1 TD · 0 INT · QBR 73.3 · -8 rush yds (5 car) · L. Akers — 1 SOLO · 1 TOT · 49 AVG

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	PD	Note
Wk 1	L 3-23@ Tulane	8	5	0.0	0.0	—	1	Season-high 8 tackles
Wk 2	W 42-7vs Western Illinois	1	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 5	W 17-14vs UCLA	3	0	0.5	0.5	—	0
Wk 6	W 42-7vs UL Monroe	6	5	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 7	W 22-21@ Penn State	4	3	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 8	W 19-0vs Purdue	1	0	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 9	L 21-28@ Nebraska	5	3	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 12	L 22-24vs Michigan	6	6	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 13	W 38-35vs Minnesota	4	1	0.5	0.0	—	0
Wk 14	L 13-20@ Illinois	5	4	0.0	0.0	—	0
Bowl	W 34-7vs Central Michigan	2	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Total		45	29	1.0	0.5	—	1

The secondary · Northwestern

#6Robert FitzgeraldDB · Sr.106 tackles · 2025
#9Braden TurnerDB · Sr.52 tackles · 2025
#18Garner WallaceDB · Sr.45 tackles · 2025
#13Josh FussellDB · Jr.29 tackles · 2025
#3Brenden DeasfernandesDB · Sr.25 tackles · 2025

18 more on the roster · Northwestern team page

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

Garner Wallace

2021

2025 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Part-time starter

Career stats

Signature game

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Hybrid Nickel

Players who play like Garner Wallace

The secondary · Northwestern