Early life and career

Markus attended the Mountain Pointe High School back in his home town of Phoenix, Arizona. He quickly showed great athleticism and qualities and he excelled in a variety of sports. However, it was clear from the start that his heart is in football. He played for the team of his high school from 2005 all the way to 2007 and he managed to get 23 receptions for 476 yards. He scored six touchdowns in his junior year and he added 49 tackles as a part of his defensive play. He would later relocate and attended the Chandler High School where he played for the Chandler Wolves.

His college football career kicked off when he went to the Oregon State University. He played for the Oregon State Beavers team from 2009 to 2012. During his senior year back in 2012 he managed to become a first-team All Pacific 12 Conference selection. He got about 2994 yards to his name and managed to achieve 227 receptions as well as 16 touchdowns.

Professional career

The 40 time NFL Combine back in 2013 proved Wheaton to be a desirable athlete. He ran the 40 yard dash for 4.45 seconds. This is more than perfect for the position that he occupies. He got drafted by the Pittsburg Steelers in the round three of the 2013 NFL Draft. He was the 79th pick amongst all other players. Immediately after his draft he managed to land a 4 year contract with the Steelers worth $2.81 million which also guaranteed him $591,000.

Interestingly enough, Markus played in a total of 12 games in his rookie season. He managed to get 6 receptions for about 64 yards. During the offseason of 2014, the veteran wide receiver of the Steelers – Emmanuel Sanders got traded to the team of the Denver Broncos. This enabled Wheaton to play in every single game of the season. He even got 11 starting games. He managed to attribute to his overall career stats a total of 53 receptions for 644 yards. He even scored two touchdowns. Later in the season his team played a wild card match against the Baltimore Ravens. Even though his team eventually lost the game, Wheaton managed to get 5 receptions for about 64 yards and didn’t manage to do a touchdown.

Personal life

Markus is not the only athlete or professional football player in his family. He’s got a cousin – Kenny Wheaton who used to play for the Dallas Cowboys. Markus’s performance led many people to call him a return specialist. This is mainly due to his precision in returning passes. He also has a variety of social media accounts, including on Twitter where he’s netted around 47 thousand followers. He also runs a Facebook page which is liked by over 90 thousand people.