The opposing coaches used to gawk.
Stand and gawk.
Sometimes level, or deliberate how or why or what. But principally, standing on the 50-yard line, they gawked.
It was the way in which this 310-pound menace snapped off his routes in pregame warmups, cradled passes and manhandled his blocking assignments. Every motion so clean and underneath management. He carried a gravity of consideration, just like the tallest child in class.
Except in 2018, new Patriots offensive deal with Tyrone Wheatley Jr. was neither the tallest, nor the heaviest at Stony Brook, a small FCS program on Long Island. He was merely probably the most mystifying.
How did a 6-foot-6, 310-pound individual play tight finish? And why didn’t he play offensive line?
Five years in the past, Wheatley Jr. remodeled Stony Brook’s offense upon arrival, regardless of exhibiting up late to coaching camp with an harm and nil expertise. He instantly mastered the playbook and tilted it towards a two-tight finish system. Wheatley had transferred from Michigan, the place he caught six passes over three seasons within the shadow of his father, ex-NFL working again and Michigan alum Tyrone Wheatley.
The Wolverines, based on Stony Brook head coach Chuck Priore, deliberate to maneuver him to the offensive line that season. But Wheatley most well-liked to remain at tight finish, the place he might wring out no matter potential he had left at that place; a call that introduced him to Stony Brook. Priore agreed to maintain him at tight finish, although each participant and coach understood if Wheatley needed to pursue a future within the NFL — and he did — he would finally pivot.
“(Wheatley) knew he wanted to play the next level,” mentioned former Stony Brook offensive coordinator Carmen Felus, now an assistant at West Alabama. “And he approached each day, from the meetings walkthrough to practice, as if it was a job interview.”
Wheatley’s place coach, Stony Brook tight ends coach Steve Martino, remembers him arriving this fashion: “In the first practice we put him out there, the defensive guys were like, ‘Uh oh.’”
Nowadays, Wheatley is amongst 5 offensive tackles vying for enjoying time in New England. The Patriots traded younger working again Pierre Strong for him in a 1-for-1 swap with the Browns final week. Wheatley is a developmental participant with expertise at each offensive deal with spots.
He started changing from tight finish three years in the past and has since bounced from the Bears to Las Vegas to Cleveland. Wheatley spent all of final yr on the Browns’ observe squad. He is now having fun with his first days on a 53-man roster.
But what occurred at Stony Brook, Wheatley’s final full season as a decent finish, may provide a peek into his quick future with the Patriots. There, Wheatley established himself as a uncommon participant, and one who tasks as a powerful tradition slot in New England. The Patriots require three traits of their offensive linemen.
First, above all else, is toughness.
“There were times you’d see him in the locker room after the game, and it’d be like he was through a battle,” Martino mentioned. “But three days later, he’d be out there practicing. He played through a lot of stuff.”
Then, there’s intelligence.
“A lot of times big-time transfers, when they come in, it’s hard to get assimilated quickly to our culture and to our standards. He did,” Felus mentioned. “High IQ, smart kid, good kid. So, he was very valuable.”
“He just understood the game,” Martino added. “For him to come in August and pick everything up, you could tell his football IQ was high.”
And lastly, O-linemen should be “athletic enough.”
“He’s really athletic,” Browns offensive line coach Bill Callahan mentioned of Wheatley this summer time. “He’s shown the ability to get on the edge and pass protect against good speed rushers. Now it’s just a matter of putting it all together.”
One of Stony Brook’s favourite performs was a run-pass choice (RPO), the place their quarterback both handed the ball off or handed to Wheatley down the seam based mostly on the motion of an opposing security. Wheatley’s measurement supplied an instantaneous mismatch ultimately zone, one thing he might do as an eligible receiver in packages with six offensive linemen.
“We never wanted (Wheatley and former Stony Brook tight end Cal Daniels) to leave the field because we felt we presented a lot of matchup problems for defensive coordinators.” Felus mentioned.
Patriots QB Mac Jones has improved in these 3 areas, based on Bill Belichick
Stony Brook typically ran behind Wheatley as a substitute (he completed with simply six catches). Flip on his blocking highlights, and it is simple to know why.
“He would collapse the entire side,” Martino remembered. “And the thing that impressed me the most was that he was so athletic for his size. He wasn’t a slug at 310. He was athletic enough to move, and we’d split him out wide sometimes.”
It’s secure to say the Patriots will not want to separate Wheatley out for him to catch any eyeballs in New England. But for an offense with a historical past of using further O-linemen as tight ends, and an offensive line trying to find itself, Wheatley might present a stunning supply of hope. And then the subsequent coach caught gawking will not be on the 50-yard line, however slightly standing on the opposing sideline.
“Ty was a tremendous football player for us,” Priore mentioned. “He and I talked several times and knew if he was going to get to the NFL, it was going to be as an O-lineman. And he’s got a chance. He’s really caught on, and I’m really excited. Great person. I hope he’ll help out the Patriots.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com