ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — There is now a household name on the Broncos’ coaching staff.
Head coach Nathaniel Hackett (not a household name in Broncos Country until he was hired 2 1/2 weeks ago) is finalizing a deal with one of his favorite offensive assistants, Tyrone Wheatley, to be the team’s new running backs coach.
Wheatley has worked alongside Hackett for six seasons as a running backs coach at Syracuse (2011-12), the Buffalo Bills (2013-14) and Jacksonville Jaguars (2017-18) but coaching isn’t where he made his name across the football landscape. After a promising freshman year as a backup tailback for the Michigan Wolverines, Wheatley exploded as a national college star during his sophomore season of 1992 when he rushed for 1,357 yards and 13 touchdowns on a whopping 7.3 yards per carry for the 9-0-3 Rose Bowl champion Wolverines. (Yes, Michigan settled for ties that season against Notre Dame, Illinois and Ohio State).
>Video above is a Klis and Tell from Feb. 7, 2022.
His junior and senior years were not quite as great, although still very good with better than 1,100 rushing outputs and he became a first-round draft pick, No. 17 overall, of the New York Giants in 1995. A four-year disappointment for Dan Reeves and Jim Fassel with the Giants, Wheatley busted out with the Oakland Raiders in 1999-2000, when he combined for 1,986 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns.
Wheatley, 50, started his coaching career the old-fashioned way – at the bottom – and worked his way up until he became Morgan State’s head coach in 2019. It didn’t go well as Morgan State posted records of 3-9 in 2019, didn’t play in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic, and went 2-9 in 2021.
The known assistants as reported by 9News on Hackett’s new Broncos coaching staff:
OFFENSE
Coordinator: Justin Outten
QB/Passing game coordinator: Klint Kubiak
Offensive line: Butch Barry
WR: Zach Azzanni*
RB: Tyrone Wheatley
TE: Unknown
Assistant offensive line: Ben Steele
Quality control: Justin Rascati*
DEFENSE
Coordinator: Ejiro Evero
Secondary: Christian Parker*
Linebackers: Peter Hansen
Defensive line: Unknown
Outside linebackers: Unknown
Assistant defensive backs: Ola Adams
Consultant: Bill Kollar*
Senior defensive consultant: Dom Capers
SPECIAL TEAMS
Coordinator: Dwayne Stukes
Assistant special teams: Mike Mallory
*Coaches returning from Vic Fangio’s 2021 staff.
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