VALLOS TO 'TACKLE' NEXT CHALLENGE

The Boardman High grad started 48 games at tackle for Wake Forest.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
Steve Vallos grew up rooting for Cleveland, played college football in North Carolina and spent the last month flying to places like New York, Green Bay and Atlanta to interview with NFL teams.
Like pretty much every other pro prospect, he has no idea where he'll be playing in a couple weeks.
And it's starting to bug him.
"Basically, it's terrible," said Vallos, a Boardman High graduate. "All 32 cities are possibilities and still, nothing after that is guaranteed. I could be as close as Pittsburgh or Cleveland or far away as San Diego or Seattle.
"It's just nerve-wracking not knowing where I'm going to be."
Few prospects enter this weekend's draft with as much college playing experience as Vallos, who started all 48 games of his college career after redshirting his freshman year at Wake Forest. His career culminated with last fall's dream season as the Demon Deacons went 11-3, winning the Atlantic Coast Conference before falling to Louisville in the Orange Bowl.
"It was almost like a whirlwind; it was over so quickly," Vallos said of his senior season. "We were building toward this since I got there, but to be as good as we were was pretty unexpected.
"I'm just now starting to look back and really realize what we did. To be as good as we were was pretty amazing."
Terrific career
Vallos (6-foot-3, 290 pounds) was named first team All-ACC and was named first team All-America by Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News. But his impressive college resume apparently wasn't enough for the pro scouts -- Vallos was not one of the 335 players invited to the NFL Combine.
"I really don't worry about it," Vallos said. "I did for awhile, but there's nothing I can do about it."
The combine is always a bit of a crapshoot. This year for instance, five players from Division I-AA Hampton College were invited, which was more than USC. Vallos quickly turned his focus to his school's pro day on March 19, where he had a solid performance.
"I thought I did pretty well," Vallos said.
Vallos was a three-sport standout at Boardman, helping the Spartans earn a playoff berth his senior year in football, then finishing second in the state in wrestling and third in the discus.
"I miss [wrestling] matches," he said. "I do not miss practice."
Lauded by high school coach
"He's a good athlete," added former Boardman football coach Garry Smith, who coached Vallos in high school. "He's one of the best lineman we've had come through here in a while and we've had some good ones.
"He's got excellent feet and great strength. If you look at Steve now, he doesn't look like he's over 300 pounds."
Vallos graduated with his communications degree in December and may one day enter sports marketing. He hasn't changed much since high school -- "I listen to country music now, but that's about it," he said -- but after spending the last five years avoiding Ohio's winters, he's not eager to come back.
"The weather [in Youngstown] is awful," he said.
He also didn't start thinking about the NFL until a few years ago. But he's got a good chance of being drafted in the late rounds on Sunday or, at the very least, signing as an undrafted free agent.
"After a couple years in college, you sort of get the idea about whether you've got a chance or not," he said. "I started out pretty well in college and I finished well, too, so I feel like I've got a shot."
scalzo@vindy.com