Tyrone Anthony Wheatley Sr. (born January 19, 1972) is an American former professional player and college football who is the running backs coach for Illinois. Previously, he served as the head coach of the Wayne State (MI) and as the running backs coach of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played as a running back for 10 seasons in the NFL.
In high school, Wheatley was named Michigan's athlete of the year in both football and track and field. He attended the University of Michigan and earned first-team All-Big Ten Conference honors on Big Ten Champion football and track teams. He ranks among the Wolverines' all-time rushing leaders in numerous categories, and his name appears in several places in the Big Ten football record book. He was named to All-Big Ten teams in football and track and field a total of four times, and he earned portions of seven Big Ten championships (two team awards for football, one team award for indoor track, one award for 110 meter hurdles, and three awards for individual football statistical performances).
Following his graduation from the University of Michigan, Wheatley was selected by the New York Giants of the NFL in the first round of the 1995 NFL draft. He was traded to the Miami Dolphins, but cut before the 1999 season began. He signed with the Oakland Raiders and led the team in rushing three times, and twice finishing among the NFL's top ten players in rushing touchdowns. During his NFL career (1995–2004), he totaled over 6,500 all-purpose yards as a running back and kickoff returner.
After retiring from the NFL, Wheatley returned to his hometown to coach his high school alma mater, Hamilton J. Robichaud High School. He has served as the running backs coach for the Ohio Northern Polar Bears, the Eastern Michigan Eagles, the Syracuse Orange and the Michigan Wolverines on college; and for the Buffalo Bills, the Denver Broncos, and the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL. He has served as the head coach of Morgan State and Wayne State (MI).
Early life Wheatley was born in Inkster, Michigan. Wheatley's father (also named Tyrone) suffered a mortal gunshot wound to the head in 1974 when Wheatley was two years old. Wheatley's stepfather died of a heart attack when he was 13, leaving behind Wheatley, his sister, and half-brother, two-year-old Leslie Mongo. Shortly afterward, Wheatley's mother, Patricia, was laid off and became an alcoholic. With the effective loss of his two parents, Wheatley and his sister were forced to move in with an aunt, where he lived through the rest of his childhood. Due to family difficulties, Wheatley acted as the guardian of two cousins and his half brother. Mongo was ten years younger than Wheatley, and graduated from high school in New Jersey in 2004—thirteen years after Wheatley had graduated from high school.
Wheatley was involved in competitive athletics from an early age: In his youth, he ran competitively with the Penn Park track team, where, as an eight-year-old, he stood out for his discipline and promptness. Because of his family trouble, he assumed a family leadership role at a relatively young age. Wheatley made it clear to his brothers and sisters that when chaos came to their lives, they should to turn to him because he would be there and he would never fall. When he was in high school, he would take his younger siblings to basketball games, mapping out emergency plans for shooting outbreaks or brawls. Wheatley's guardianship continued throughout his career at the University of Michigan and while he was a professional athlete. While playing in the NFL, he realized that leaving Mongo—the youngest of his siblings—in Inkster and merely providing financial support was not a solution because Mongo was still exposed to gang shootings. As Mongo's guardian, Wheatley moved Mongo to New Jersey for school. Mongo later earned outstanding freshman athlete honors during the Bergen County, New Jersey outdoor track championships while living with Wheatley, who was playing for the Giants at the time. In 2004, with his graduation from high school imminent, Mongo signed a letter of intent with Utah State as a defensive back.
School career
High school
Wheatley attended Hamilton J. Robichaud High School in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, a neighboring municipality of Inkster. During his time at Robichaud High School, he became a nine-time MHSAA state champion (seven-time individual in track and field, one-time team each in track and field and football). He is among the highest-scoring football players in Michigan high school history, and he led his high school to the state football championships while playing eight different positions and being named the Michigan Football Player of the year. In the 1990 MHSAA Championship game against upper peninsula powerhouse Kingsford High School at the Pontiac Silverdome, Wheatley ran for 165 yards and a touchdown in a 21–7 victory. That season, he led the Bulldogs to a 12–1 record, and to their only state football championship. He has been described as the greatest football player in Michigan High School history.
In track and field, he won the Michigan High School Track and Cross Country Athlete of the Year award in 1991. However, at one point Wheatley had quit the track team because the coach refused to let him run four individual events as a sprinter, jumper and hurdler. The coach relented, and Wheatley became a seven-time MHSAA Class B individual state champion by winning the long jump, 100 meters, 110-meter hurdles both his junior and senior seasons and winning the 200 meters as junior. In his junior year, he led his school to the state Class B track championships, and he became the first individual four-time track and field state champion in the same year in MHSAA history. Through the 2007 MHSAA season he was the MHSAA All class long jump record holder with a 1991 leap of , his high school 100 meters time (10.59 seconds, 1990) continues to rank third in MHSAA history, and his 110-meter hurdles time (13.87 sec., 1991) ranked seventh in MHSAA history. In addition, through the 2007 track season his hurdle time continued to be a MHSAA lower peninsula Class B state record. His long jump record has been retired. Wheatley became a high school All-American in track, and he was also a member of successful relay teams in high school. He had made a name for himself as a nine-time Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) state champion athlete. His athleticism and jumping abilities were further exhibited in basketball; Wheatley played for his high school basketball team and was able to slam dunk. He claims that against his high school rival, Inkster High School, he performed a dunk from the foul line, which is a difficult dunk made famous in slam dunk competitions by Julius Erving (Dr. J.) and later revived by Michael Jordan. Yet, despite his versatility and promise, Wheatley considered turning down athletic scholarships in hopes of obtaining an academic scholarship.
College
Wheatley chose to remain in metropolitan Detroit and attend the University of Michigan on an athletic scholarship. He played running back for the football team for four years and ran on the track team for three years. As both a football player and track athlete he was highly decorated; he earned first-team All-Big Ten honors on teams that won Big Ten Championships in both sports and All-American Honors in track. In football, he set and retains numerous school records and in track he achieved some of the fastest times in school history. Offensive coordinator Fred Jackson recalled that Wheatley was always prompt, never overweight, played while injured, and even babysat for Jackson's children. Wheatley was described in the press as a football player who put his team ahead of himself.
Wheatley wore #6 for the Michigan Wolverines football program from 1991 to 1994. At the end of the 2007 season, he ranked third in Michigan football history in career points and second in career touchdowns (behind Anthony Thomas) with forty seven rushing touchdowns, six receiving touchdowns and one kickoff return for a touchdown. His 47 rushing touchdowns, which ranked third in Big Ten history at the end of his career, ranked fifth behind Ron Dayne (71), Anthony Thompson (68), Pete Johnson (56) and Thomas through the 2006 season. His 17 touchdowns in 1992 ranks as the fifth most productive offensive season in Michigan history. In 1992, he was the Big Ten rushing and scoring champion in an offense where Michigan quarterback Elvis Grbac was also a statistical Big Ten champion. He earned the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Award that season and capped the season off by earning the MVP of the 1993 Rose Bowl on a 235-yard, 15-carry performance against Washington Huskies, which included touchdown runs of 88, 56 and 24 yards.
Through the 2012 season, he ranked fifth on the Michigan career rushing yards list (behind Mike Hart, Denard Robinson, Anthony Thomas, and Jamie Morris) with 4,178 yards. His 1992 sophomore season 7.3 yards per carry is a Michigan single-season record (minimum 75 attempts), and his freshman yards per carry average ranks fourth at Michigan since 1949 (and it is a Michigan Freshman record). He has both the best and second-best single-game (minimum 15 carries) yards per carry performances in Michigan history. He was a three-time All Big Ten selection.
As a freshman for the 1991 Wolverines, Wheatley set the Michigan freshman yards per attempt record with 555 yards on 86 carries for a 6.4 yards per attempt. In his sophomore year, he broke through with his first of three consecutive first team All-Big Ten selections. He rushed for 1,357 yards and 13 Rushing touchdowns in addition to 3 Receiving touchdowns and recording a kickoff return touchdown while subbing for the injured Ricky Powers. Wheatley had amassed the most touchdowns by a running back in Michigan history by the end of his junior year and was a professional prospect. In 1993 at the end of his junior season 1993 Wolverines, he earned the MVP award of the 1994 Hall of Fame Bowl. Wheatley had finished 8th in the 1993 Heisman Trophy race. Before LeShon Johnson's 306 yard effort in November of that season against Iowa team that Wheatley had rushed for 113 yards against, Wheatley had been mentioned as the best running back in the nation, but Johnson's effort and Bam Morris' final three games of 223, 222 and 223 yards led to Bam Morris winning the Doak Walker Award. Most who finished ahead of him in the Heisman voting either were seniors (Ward, Glenn Foley, Johnson) or gave up their amateur eligibility and declared early for the draft (Heath Shuler, David Palmer, Marshall Faulk), which made Wheatley one of the favorites for the award if he stayed in college for one more year. He stayed at Michigan for another year with the stated intent of obtaining his degree, but stayed without receiving the degree. However, the preseason 1994 Heisman Trophy favorite (along with 7th-place finisher J. J. Stokes), missed the beginning of the season with an injury to the same shoulder that had caused him to miss two games in 1993. His return to the lineup on September 24, 1994, was overshadowed by The Miracle at Michigan. His senior season return to the 1994 Wolverines had been a surprise, but injuries allowed Tshimanga Biakabutuka and Ed Davis to get some playing time. He only finished 12th in the Heisman balloting as a senior. Nonetheless, he thought that his senior-year experience broadened his horizons.