A preseason all-Big 12 Conference selection, Colorado senior cornerback Terrence Wheatley is completing a remarkable career for the Buffaloes. With 11 interceptions, including two this season, he is tied for sixth on the school’s all-time list. CU coach Dan Hawkins believes Wheatley, a 5-foot-10, 185-pounder, will become a successful NFL player.
“When pro scouts come by, I just jump on the table for that guy,” Hawkins said. “He is a special player.”
Wheatley sat down for a Q&A with The Post’s Tom Kensler.
Q: Was football your first love?
A: No, I played about everything except football. It wasn’t until we moved to Texas that I went out for it. My dad worked for Nortel, so we got relocated quite a bit. I was born in California and lived in North Carolina before we moved to the Dallas suburbs. I didn’t start playing football until the sixth grade, and I hated it at first. I started out as a running back and hated getting hit. By the time I was in eighth grade, I was better than everybody because I was bigger and faster. It’s weird, but I was almost done growing by the time I was in eighth grade. I always wanted to try football, and in Plano, Texas, there is a lot of peer pressure to do that.
Q: You’ve had four wrist surgeries. Is that a concern?
A: No, except I still set off the alarm at airports because of the metal plate that’s in there. I carry a medical form, but it still takes some explaining.
Q: Football is definitely king in the Lone Star State, right?
A: In Plano, football is all that everybody talks about. My high school stadium held about 15,000 fans. That gives you an idea. It definitely helped me prepare for college. When I came here, this is a bigger scale. But not by much.
Q: In high school, you ran the 100 meters in 10.15. Did you consider a career in track?
A: I thought about it a lot, actually. I still wonder sometimes how fast I could have gone. My track coach in high school was the defensive line coach on the football team. So with some good coaching later on, who knows? In high school, track seemed like a waste of time. I hardly ever lost.
Q: Running that fast as a teen might have put you on course to post Olympic-quality times as you matured.
A: For some reason, I just didn’t pursue track in college. My mom and dad both ran track at Arizona State. I just preferred football.
Q: Were your parents college sweethearts?
A: They knew each other long before that. They are from the Virgin Islands. It’s a pretty small island where everybody knows everybody. You can have a car, but you’ll never use it.
Q: Any hobbies outside of sports?
A: I’m actually a weather nerd. I watch The Weather Channel religiously. The thing I like about weather is it changes every day. It’s never the same. I’m an economics major, which is interesting. But the economy is not undergoing any drastic changes right now. I’ve always liked studying the weather. When I was a little kid, I had a little weather station outside. I’d check it every day to see if it rained. And I had a telescope as a little kid. Even now, I can look at the sky and pick out all the constellations.
Q: What are you hearing about your draft potential?
A: I’m hearing a lot of things, but mostly that I’ll definitely be a first-day guy – probably in the second round, which is exciting.
Wheatley’s Top 5
CU’s cornerback lists his favorite TV shows of all time
1. “Family Guy”
2. “Rescue 911”
3. Anything on The Weather Channel
4. “The Jetsons”
5. “The Flintstones”
