Love, perseverance and football: How Clemson’s K’Von Wallace was inspired by his mom
Roxanne Barnes gets emotional when she discusses the struggles she went through trying to raise two kids as a single parent living in public housing in Richmond, Virginia.
There were gangs, drugs and gun violence. She had to navigate her children away from all of it. On a few occasions, as she tried to get by, the lights in her apartment were cut off and candlelight was the only option.
Barnes sometimes missed her son’s football games because she was busy working one of her three jobs. Life wasn’t easy.
“I regret some of it because a lot of times I was away from (my children), but I was away from them because I was trying to provide for them and make a better life,” Barnes says now. “It was very, very challenging and my faith wavered a lot.”
Barnes’ son is Clemson safety K’Von Wallace, a leader and two-year starter on the Tigers’ defense who celebrated his Senior Day on Nov. 16 in his final game at Death Valley. He beat the odds, escaped “the projects” as Barnes calls it, became the first male on his mom’s side of the family to earn a high school diploma and will become the first four-year college graduate in his family’s history next month.
The story of Wallace and his mother is one of love, faith, inspiration and plenty of difficulties along the way.
“I used to be ashamed of our story,” Barnes said.
But it’s one she now wants to share.
“I just want this story just to be of hope to someone else, to all the single mothers who struggle with raising fatherless children, to just keep their head up,” she said. “Just know that as long as you believe in yourself and you teach your children to believe in themselves and you have faith in God, you can do anything.”
Early years
When K’Von Wallace was born on July 25, 1997, his father was in prison.
The first time K’Von met his dad — Kevin Wallace — was on a visit to the prison when he was a toddler. They did not interact outside of prison until K’Von was 6 years old.
“He was in my life for like a year or two, went back, and just a bad history with that,” K’Von told The State.
Kevin’s charges were mostly drug related and included multiple felonies. He was behind bars for most of K’Von’s life but has been out for about a year now. The two now talk at least weekly.
“We used to go months or years without talking, but now we only go a couple of days or a few hours without talking. We’re building a better relationship,” K’Von said. “I’m 22. I don’t really care for him to be that father. I want him to be there, but that’s not really something I need right now. I just need him to be a good person, a better person, because I love him. I want the best for him.”
With Kevin out of the picture for most of K’Von’s childhood, his mother, older sister and grandmother looked after him.
K’Von didn’t get everything he wanted growing up, but Barnes ensured that he had everything he needed.
“Maybe the water isn’t the hottest, sometimes the lights are out or whatever, but family was just everything to me,” K’Von said. “If the lights were out we always had candles. ... We did a lot of stuff in the house like playing cards, (family meals). Everything was just family oriented. It helped us stick together through those hard times when the lights were off or we’re at my grandma’s house.”
K’Von started playing sports at a young age in the grass fields outside of the apartments where his family lived in Henrico, Virginia. He viewed it as a way to stay occupied and on the right path.
“I feel like when you’re in those low-income places it’s very easy to go outside and meet people, build relationships with friends, because that’s really what you cherish,” K’Von said. “You don’t have toys or video games. You really have to go outside and have fun.”
K’Von started playing football when he was 6. By the age of 10 he realized he had a chance to be special.
“I was 10 and I was playing with 15- or 16-year-olds. I was getting slammed and everyone was so impressed with how tough I was,” he said. “We made our own football field. It was a big field with a bunch of grass, concrete on the side. That was our out of bounds. So if you got pushed on the concrete, you get back up and brush it off.”
K’Von’s football career was off to a promising start.
The importance of education
Barnes was raised by a single mother herself and was the first person in her family to earn a high school diploma, an accomplishment she is proud of but also has trouble discussing.
“I don’t like talking about it too much. It’s kind of embarrassing,” she said. “But it’s our truth, unfortunately.”
Barnes didn’t go to college right out of high school, but in her mid-20s she made the decision to pursue her associate’s degree. She wanted out of public housing and away from the drugs and violence, but more than anything she wanted to set a precedent for her children to follow.
Going to school while raising two kids wasn’t easy. Wallace would sometimes have to go to school with his mother. He’d sit at the back of the classroom, inspired by what he was seeing.
“That just motivated me and my sister to get our degrees and do just as much or better knowing that it was possible in our family,” Wallace said.
Wallace was 8 and his older sister, QuaMeisha Barnes, was 12 when Barnes graduated magna cum laude from J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College with a degree in Human Services and Substance Abuse Counseling. Always concerned about how she might raise a son, having grown up without her own father in her life, this was part of her mission to set an example.
“I made it my business to teach K’Von how to be a good person. I couldn’t teach him how to be a man because I’m not a man. However, my goal was to teach him how to be a good person,” Barnes said. “I didn’t have my father in my life when I was growing up, so I knew that I would struggle with raising a son in the environment that I was living.”
Her son took note.
“She was the first one to do it. She just gave all of us hope,” Wallace said. “It touched me. It touched our whole entire family to know that anything is possible, to know that there’s no excuses in life.”
It took Barnes about six months to find a job in her field, and in the meantime she found work however she could. She was eventually hired as a counselor for middle school and high school children. Within a few years she saved up enough money to purchase a home and is currently employed as a contractor in the mental health field and as a mental health support specialist. It’s a job she has held for about 10 years.
Still, even living in a home, there were plenty of challenges.
“We no longer lived in public housing. However, we didn’t live too far from it. Just a few blocks and anything can happen — drugs, gun violence, just different gangs. Just negativity all around him, especially for a young black man in our community,” Barnes said. “There was a lot he could’ve gotten into. And football kind of separated him from that because he was always either playing, either working out, either traveling, just doing different things with his coaches. It kept him separated from everything else that he could’ve been involved with.”
Becoming a playmaker
Wallace was a star growing up playing rec league football, so much so that he was recruited to leave the team he played on with his friends and go elsewhere.
“They offered my mom money and all types of things. It was just crazy,” Wallace said. “I always stayed loyal to my team, though. I never left them.”
Wallace continued to play backyard football as well and earned the respect of the older kids in his area with his toughness. He described the games as intense.
“Fights would happen. It was a lot of stuff that just goes down. You don’t ever forget but you don’t really care to remember. A lot of life lessons,” Wallace said. “It also helped me with always making the right decisions because I knew the consequences that came with it.”
While some of the young men in his neighborhood found themselves in trouble, they made sure Wallace stayed out of it. It was clear that Wallace had a chance to use football to change his life, and the older boys in his neighborhood wanted to see that take place.
“Older guys that are considered dangerous, they’re still good people because they always look out for the younger ones. They know what they could’ve been is something that I can be,” Wallace said. “They always made sure I wasn’t getting in trouble. They always made sure I was safe. They always protected me. I had a lot of big brothers.”
Searching for offers
Wallace played receiver throughout his childhood, and his goal was to be the next Larry Fitzgerald, the current Arizona Cardinals star. Despite starring in his youth league, Wallace was a backup until his senior year of high school.
He had no scholarship offers during the summer of his senior season when a trip to a football camp at the University of Cincinnati changed his life.
Wallace arrived to the camp as an unknown recruit searching for that first offer. He planned to work out at receiver for Cincinnati’s coaching staff but a quick numbers count changed his mind.
“They were low at defensive back, and I just thought I should give it a shot. There were 15 receivers and four defensive backs,” Wallace said.
It didn’t take him long to impress.
“I was doing one-on-ones as a defensive back and the first rep I got an interception. ... Rep after rep, interception after interception, PBU after PBU, I kept just winning,” he recalled. “The defensive backs coach wanted to have like a private session with me after the camp to see how I could move and see how durable I am. It was just me out there rep after rep doing his drills.”
Wallace ended up earning an offer that day, his first, and added an offer from James Madison during a camp later that summer. He also camped at Duke and N.C. State, but neither ACC school came through.
Wallace committed to Cincinnati at the end of the summer. He played receiver and defensive back as a senior, earning first-team all-state at both. As Wallace led his Highland Springs High team to its first state title since 1961, he hoped more offers would come.
But they didn’t.
Ending up at Clemson
Wallace was all set to attend Cincinnati a few weeks before National Signing Day. Bearcats coaches attended his games throughout his senior season in 2015, and in-state schools Virginia and Virginia Tech did as well. But Cincinnati remained Wallace’s only FBS offer.
“That was fine with me,” Barnes said. “My thing was, as long as he can get a free education to further his education it was fine.”
But late in the recruiting process Wallace updated his highlights for the website Hudl, then shared it on Twitter. He was stunned by the response.
JJ Givens, a higher-rated prospect who now plays for N.C. State and a friend from Virginia, retweeted Wallace’s tape and college coaches from around the country started to take notice.
The first Power 5 offer came from Pitt in early January. Then more high-profile offers started to roll in.
Then, less than a month before signing day, Arizona, Maryland, Michigan State, Clemson and his dream school, Ohio State, all offered scholarships within a 19-day span, all thanks to his Hudl highlights.
“We watched his tape and just couldn’t believe he was committed to Cincinnati,” Tigers defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “It was just a reminder that, man, there are so many really good players that are under-recruited. ... He was just a baller.”
Wallace had college coaches coming in and out of his house for the month leading up to National Signing Day, and he took visits to Virginia Tech, Clemson and Ohio State.
Barnes expected her son to choose Ohio State, but his visit didn’t go as planned.
“He was like, ‘Mom, it just doesn’t feel right.’ I cried, because that’s what he wanted,” Barnes recalled. “He had Clemson in a few days. He went to Clemson, and I remember he called. He was ecstatic. He was like, ‘Mom, I think I found it.’ I was like, ‘Are you sure?’ He was like, ‘Yes, mom, I can’t explain it, but this is it. It just feels right.’ ”
Barnes knew nothing about Clemson before it offered her son in mid-January, just a few weeks before signing day.
“It was so funny because he said Clemson, I was like, ‘What?’ He was like, ‘Mom, Clemson.’ I was like, ‘I don’t even know what that is. I’ve never even heard of Clemson. What are their colors anyway?’ I was thinking maybe their colors were going to jog my memory,” Barnes said laughing.
They didn’t.
“He was like, ‘Well, they went to the national championship last year.’ I was like, ‘OK, well I don’t know who that is.’ ”
A new home
In the summer of 2016, Wallace, Barnes, QuaMeisha and Roxanne Barnes’ then 6-year-old daughter Keoni Tyler were a part of three car loads of Wallace’s family and friends to make the seven-hour trip from Richmond to Clemson to drop Wallace off for college.
Wallace had no friends at Clemson when he arrived because — unlike most members of the Tigers signing class — he was not taking visits to the school during his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. No one on Clemson’s coaching staff knew who he was until those few weeks before February’s signing day.
“I didn’t know a soul here. Clelin Ferrell was from the same area, but I never even knew who he was. He was a year older than me. He ended up moving out of the area we lived to go to a private school, so I never really met him,” Wallace said. “I came here not knowing anybody.”
That made it tough on his mother as she dropped him off knowing it would be a while before she would see him again.
“It was insanely challenging. I remember I cried. I kept walking off when we got to the dorm. I was just crying. I didn’t want him to see me cry,” Barnes said. “I remember when we were leaving him, my heart felt like it was breaking, because we had never been away from each other that long. He had never been away from home.”
Wallace soon started making friends, hanging out mostly with defensive linemen.
“It all started with me not having a vehicle because it forced me to get out of my comfort zone,” he said. “I walked everywhere my whole life. ... Not having a vehicle, that forced me to talk with those guys and build a relationship with those guys. I was just (considered) a big guy. I was always with Dexter (Lawrence), Christian (Wilkins), Clelin (Ferrell), Austin (Bryant), Albert (Huggins). … I was always with the bigger guys.”
Finding success
Wallace came in as a relatively unknown recruit, but it didn’t take him long to make a name for himself.
He played in all 15 games as a true freshman in 2016, helping the Tigers win their first national title since 1981. As a sophomore he started six games for a team that entered the College Football Playoff as the No. 1 seed.
Wallace started all 15 games for the Tigers as Clemson won its second national title in three years in 2018, and he has started all 10 games this season. Wallace is currently fourth on Clemson’s defense with 48 tackles, including two for loss. He has a pair of interceptions, including one he returned for a touchdown.
“He’s a physical tackler, and he’s just very multiple. He’s a good player. He’ll make it at the next level, for sure. He’s like getting three guys on your roster,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “He’s really helped himself, and it’s fun to see. He’s the epitome of what you want your program to be about. He comes in, he’s a talented guy. He’s not a great football player yet, and he just gets better and better and better and better.”
Now out of jail, Kevin Wallace watched his son play football in person for the first time in his life when Clemson played Texas A&M in Week 2.
K’Von led the Tigers with nine tackles, including a tackle for loss, as Clemson earned a 24-10 victory. He was named the ACC Defensive Back of the Week for his performance, becoming the first Clemson player to win that award since 2012.
Afterward, he embraced his father.
“He hugged me, told me how proud he was. Then he started to cry,” K’Von said.
Paying it forward
Wallace has had aspirations of playing in the NFL for a long time, and after spending the past 2 1/2 years as a starter for the best program in college football, he has a real shot to make it at the next level.
“In the NFL you’re very limited on your roster spots. ... He legitimately can play corner. He can play safety. He can play nickel. He can play in your dime package. He’s a great special teams player,” Swinney said. “He brings a lot. And he’s smart. Got a great body. He’s durable. He stays healthy, and that’s a reflection of how he takes care of himself. And he’s a winner. All he’s done is win since he’s been here. So he’s going to bring that mind-set to wherever he goes.”
Wallace is also going to bring a toughness with him that he developed playing backyard football as a young child, and a determination to be great that few can match.
“Growing up it was just hard, but now it’s like scars. They’re always going to be there. The scars remind me of the tough times,” Wallace said. “Every time you look at it you’re never going to not see it. You’re never going to forget it. It’s always going to be there for the rest of your life, and that just motivates me every day to give it all I’ve got and never quit.”
The first two purchases he plans to make as a pro? A reliable but affordable car for himself, and a house for his mother.
After that, he wants to give back to the youth in the Richmond area.
“I’m just proud of him in a lot of ways,” Wallace’s high school coach Loren Johnson said. “Sometimes you get kids that get to the point that where he’s at right now, they get beyond themselves. And he’s not done that whatsoever. He’s a humble guy. He loves helping our guys and loving kids and offering advice.”
Wallace wants to build a youth program in his hometown so children will have an option to keep them off the streets and help them stay out of trouble.
Wallace grew up in the Boys and Girls Club program, but it is no longer active in his area.
“I just felt like that was what really saved me and kept me out of trouble, because when my grandma couldn’t be there, my momma couldn’t be there, I would’ve had nowhere else to go if I didn’t have that program,” Wallace said. “I just want to impact the youth the best way I can. Going back to high school and making sure they have uniforms, just the little things. I definitely just want to do anything in my community to help lower the crime rates and increase the graduation rates.”
While Wallace would love to play in the NFL and appears headed that way, he has other plans if he doesn’t make it at the next level.
Wallace will graduate in December with a degree in general communications and with a minor in youth development. He has interned with the NFL front office during college, as well as at Cisco.
He briefly considered turning pro following his junior year, but with work still to do in the classroom he opted to come back. The chance to earn his four-year degree, make history within his family and have the opportunity to set a precedent was too much to pass up.
“I always promised my family that our lives would change. Generations would change. And it’s going to start with me,” Wallace said. “I want to go all the way because I feel like that’s my calling. I feel like going all the way is graduating in December and having a long career in the NFL, because I truly believe that a long career in the NFL would not just benefit my life, but my family’s life and the youth’s life in my area and bring hope to my community. All kids need is hope. They need faith. All they need is belief. Any time you can give that kid that one inch of belief, it changes their life.”
Wallace is living proof of that.
This story was originally published November 13, 2019 at 7:45 AM.
