Terrence Wheatley (born May 5, 1985) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create turnove ...

. He played college football at

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

and was drafted by the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

in the second round of the

2008 NFL Draft The 2008 NFL Draft was the 73rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 26 and April 27 ...

. Wheatley has also been a member of the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

and

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

Early years

Wheatley attended

Plano East Senior High School Plano East Senior High School (commonly known as East, Plano East, or PESH) is a public secondary school in Plano, Texas (USA) serving high school juniors and seniors, as well as freshmen and sophomores as a part of the IB World School (begin ...

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History European settlers came to the area near ...

, where he holds

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

records in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down t ...

, the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

, and the 100 meters. As a sophomore, he was the district champion in the long jump. During his junior season in football, Wheatley had 70 tackles, six interceptions, 18 pass breakups, three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. Although a

, Wheatley spent time at

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...

, where he had 23 rushing attempts for 200 yards and 11 catches for 161 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 25 yards per kick return and eight per punt return. During his senior season, he had 82 tackles, five interceptions, nine pass deflections, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. Once again seeing time on offense, he had 25 catches, 410 yards and three touchdowns. He earned all-state honorable mention, all-district first team honors, and was named to the all-area first team of the ''

Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the '' Galvest ...

'' as a cornerback and wide receiver. '' Rivals.com'' named him the 56th best cornerback prospect in high school football.

College career

As a freshman at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

, Wheatley saw action in 12 games, starting twice on defense. He had 24 tackles and five pass deflections during 268 snaps on defense. When Wheatley and Samuel Joseph started against Baylor, it marked the first time in Colorado history that two freshmen started at cornerback. Wheatley had eight tackles in the Baylor game, which was his season high. As a sophomore, he played in all 13 games, starting the last five, including the

Houston Bowl The Houston Bowl was an NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that was played annually in Houston, Texas, from 2000 to 2005. For its first two years, the game was known as the galleryfurniture.com Bowl, named for the website ...

. However, during the season, he was held back by

wrist In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as (1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand; "The wrist contains eight bones, roughly aligned in two rows, known as the carpal ...

groin In human anatomy, the groin (the adjective is ''inguinal'', as in inguinal canal) is the junctional area (also known as the inguinal region) between the abdomen and the thigh on either side of the pubic bone. This is also known as the medial co ...

and

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrup ...

injuries. He had 33 tackles, three passes broken up and four interceptions, which ranked second on the team. His first collegiate interception was returned for a touchdown, making him the 12th player in Colorado history to accomplish that feat. In 2005, his true junior year, he had wrist surgery in the spring but because the wrist continued to bother him, he missed the entire season. As a redshirt junior in 2006 he had 57 tackles, five interceptions, and 11 passes broken up. After the season, he was named first-team All-

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...

and All-Colorado. During his senior season in 2007, Wheatley had 42 tackles and five interceptions in the first 10 games, before suffering a hairline fracture and missing the rest of the regular season. He was able to return for the

Independence Bowl The Independence Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually each December at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Independence Bowl ...

. He was named a third-team All-American and first-team All-Big 12 at cornerback, and received an honorable mention as a kick returner. Wheatley also appeared on the official watchlists for the

Bronko Nagurski Trophy The Bronko Nagurski Trophy has been awarded annually since 1993 to the collegiate American football defensive player adjudged by the membership of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) to be the best in the National Collegiate Athle ...

and the

Jim Thorpe Award The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Payc ...

Professional career

New England Patriots

Wheatley was drafted by the

in the second round (62nd overall) in the

, and signed with them on July 22, 2008. As a rookie, Wheatley debuted in the first week of the season against

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

, and played in six of the first seven games as a reserve. In his first career start against the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 20 ...

on November 2 he suffered a wrist injury that forced him to be placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

on November 17, after being inactive for the team's following two games. He finished the season with two tackles and two passes defensed. Wheatley was active for five games in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, all as a reserve. He finished the season with two tackles. After suffering a foot injury in the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

preseason, Wheatley did not practice or play for the first five weeks of the regular season; however, he remained inactive in Weeks 6 and 7 even after returning to practice in Week 6. He was active for the first time in 2010, but did not play in the Patriots' Week 8 win over the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

. He was waived the following Saturday, in advance of the team's Week 9 game against the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

Jacksonville Jaguars

After clearing waivers, Wheatley signed a two-year contract with the

on November 8, 2010. He played in one game for the Jaguars before being placed on injured reserve on December 17, 2010. He was waived during final cuts in September 2011.

Buffalo Bills

Wheatley was signed to the

' practice squad on September 13, 2011. He was promoted to the active roster on September 27.

References

External links

Jacksonville Jaguars bioNew England Patriots bioColorado Buffaloes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheatley, Terrence 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Walnut Creek, California Plano East Senior High School alumni Players of American football from California African-American players of American football American football cornerbacks Colorado Buffaloes football players New England Patriots players Jacksonville Jaguars players Buffalo Bills players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people