Some injuries to the Carolina Panthers’ linebacker room have opened up a massive opportunity for one former Kentucky player.

Rookie Trevin Wallace will make his debut as a starter this Sunday, according to the Charlotte Observer, when the Panthers take on the Bears in Chicago this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST (FOX). Shaq Thompson, one of Carolina’s starting linebackers to begin the season, suffered an Achilles injury last week while fellow starter Josey Jewell is expected to sit out this week too due to a hamstring issue.

Wallace will go into Sunday’s game against the Bears with the “green dot”, meaning he’ll be able to communicate with the coaches on the sidelines and call out plays to the rest of his teammates. He was forced into action during last week’s loss against the Bengals due to injuries ahead of him, playing 37 percent of defensive snaps. That number will see a sizable leap in Week 5.

“It’s crazy, the team told me that it’s my defense now,” Wallace told the media on Thursday. “When I hear that from vets, it’s like, ‘OK, they trust me.’ So that’s good.”

Wallace was a third-round pick (No. 72 overall) in the 2024 NFL Draft by the Panthers for good reason. A Georgia native, he was a team captain in 2023 for the Wildcats and finished his college career with 166 tackles, 18.0 tackles for loss, 10.0 sacks, five quarterback hurries, three interceptions, two forced fumbles, and a pass breakup across 36 games played (19 starts).

Now, Carolina wants to see what it invested in with Wallace as a starter for the foreseeable future.

“When I first got here, me and Shaq (Thompson) talked. He was like anything can happen, he was like if anything happen you’re up next,” Wallace said. “And look what happened last game. I was like ‘dang’. It’s really true — anything can happen and you’re up next. Look what happened, I’m up next.”

Wallace has been a constant special teams member throughout the Panthers’ (1-3) first four games this season but he’s only seen real defensive snaps over his last two outings. The 6-foot-1, 245-pound linebacker has played just 36 total defensive snaps, recording three solo tackles along the way.

Sunday will be a test to see just how ready he is to play major NFL snaps.

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