Amari Wallace, a 4-star recruit and one of the nation’s top defensive backs, is out of his senior year of high school at Miami Central in South Florida after breaking a bone in his left foot on July 23 in what his family’s attorney called an “illegal sparring match.” The sparring match allegedly took place on the football field at Miramar High School in Broward County. As he faces a lengthy recovery and rehabilitation, his freshman year of college is also in jeopardy.
On August 29, Wallace’s parents, Ebonie Gearing and Akins Wallace, filed a notice of claim, through their attorney and on behalf of their minor son, with the Miami-Dade County School Board and the Broward County School Board. The notice is required by law as a precedent for initiating legal proceedings. The family seeks to hold the jurisdictions accountable for Wallace’s injuries and to enact changes that would prevent similar things from happening to other players in the future. Miami Central is located in Miami-Dade County.
According to David Brill, Wallace and his family’s attorney, Miami Central head football coach Jube Joseph asked Wallace and his teammates “to meet on the Miramar High School field for a friendly 11-on-11 game, and not to tell anyone because it was an illegal friendly game.”
According to Brill, the two teams participated in an unauthorized, non-contact, unpadded 11-on-11 scrimmage on the Miramar playing field that Brill said was “unsafe” and “not ready for use.” Wallace was injured after jumping for an interception and landing awkwardly on his left foot in a hole in the field.
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Wallace suffered a clean fracture of the shaft of his tibia that required surgery to repair. He was confined to a wheelchair for several weeks and recently began walking with the aid of crutches. He undergoes physical therapy three times a week and his prognosis for a full recovery is good.
“Amari is working on getting his strength and function back,” Brill said. “He won’t be playing football this year and next year is uncertain. He won’t be working out and lifting weights on his legs for a while. Hopefully, he’ll be able to play football again without any limitations.”
Wallace began his career at Miami Central his first three years and helped lead the Rockets to two Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) state championships. In June, he announced his commitment to his hometown University of Miami over top finalists Auburn, Louisville and LSU. He plans to sign a national letter of intent with the Hurricanes during the NCAA early signing period in December.
“There’s nothing like home,” Wallace said CanesInsight.com websiteat the time of his commitment. “The communication that me, my mom, my dad, and the coaching staff have had with Miami, it’s been great. I’ve been a Miami fan for a number of years.
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“Why not just stay home? I stayed home because I wanted my mom, my dad, my brothers, my aunts, my cousins, everybody to watch me at the University of Miami. Watch me play ball at Hard Rock Stadium.”
In the same interview, Wallace shared his footballing philosophy which may have been the reason he suffered a serious injury in pre-season.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s 7-on-7, tackling, I always try to give 110 percent,” Wallace said. “It could be a big game, or it could be a small game. I always try to stay focused and play the game.”
The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Wallace made 44 tackles, defended 10 passes and had two interceptions during Miami Central’s run to the 2022 Florida 2M state championship. In 2023, Wallace had three interceptions as well as six passes defended and forced one fumble.
When asked about the impact the injury would have on Wallace’s scholarship offer from the University of Miami, Brill replied, “Unknown.”
Brill said the two school boards are granted sovereign immunity under Florida law, which limits the financial gain Wallace and his family can receive from the claims. Brill said money is not the primary objective.
“My claims regarding Amari’s injuries are against the Broward County School Board and the Miami-Dade County School Board,” Brill said. “Those entities are granted sovereign immunity under Florida law. That law limits the available recovery to $200,000.00, without getting a bill of claim from the Florida legislature, enacted into law by the Governor, for amounts in excess of that amount. Getting a bill of claim for a case like Amari’s is impossible. My fees for Amari’s case are capped by Florida law at 25%. So Amari is not going to get a significant monetary recovery. And I’m not going to get much in the way of fees. That’s not why we’re pursuing this matter.
“We investigated this matter because we cannot tolerate cheating by Florida high school football coaches for the apparent benefit of winning games, often at the risk of player injury. And for what, in this particular case? An extra week of practice before the official start of practice? How is that different from a winning program? How is Miami Central benefiting?
“Our goal is to bring about positive change in a system filled with coaches who support winning at all costs. Our goal is to teach and remind them what to do. And hopefully, as a result of our efforts, nothing like what happened to Amari will happen to another student athlete.”
In our reporting at the time of Wallace’s injury, SBLive could not confirm whether the friendly was sanctioned. We reached out to Joseph and Miami Central principal Raymond J. Sands for comment and did not receive a response. The incident occurred six days before the start of high school football practice on July 29 in Florida and would have required FHSAA approval.
Under Florida’s sovereign immunity law, each school board has up to six months to respond to the notice it receives. No legal proceedings may be initiated before the expiration of this six-month period. In the meantime, the parties are free to communicate and potentially negotiate a resolution to the matter.
When reached for comment, a representative for the Broward County School Board acknowledged receiving notice of the claim from the Wallace family’s attorney but chose not to comment further.
“Broward County Public Schools has received the letter,” said Keyla Concepción, Director, Media & Public Relations for Broward County Public Schools. “As standard practice, our District does not comment on pending, potential, or ongoing litigation.”
According to Brill, an investigation into the matter is ongoing in Miami-Dade. The investigation is being conducted by the Civil Investigations Unit and the lead investigator, Arthur Soule, has interviewed Amari Wallace and his family. SBLive reached out to Mr. Soule for comment but has not yet received a response.
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