Cornerback Terrence Wheatley utilized his speed indoors by breaking up a number of pass plays during New England’s two-day mini-camp for rookies in Foxboro.

The Providence Journal / John Freidah

FOXBORO — Terrence Wheatley has his head in the clouds.

And he’s not ashamed of it.

Wheatley, the New England Patriots’ second-round draft pick out of Colorado, is two economics classes shy of completing his degree, but one day he plans to earn a master’s in atmospheric sciences.

Before you think he wants to be a weatherman — which wouldn’t be a stretch given his TV-ready voice — there’s a lot more to it than that.

“I would give the weatherman the reports,” he said. “So it’s more like studying long-term forecasting from a global standpoint.”

Born in California but a football and track star in Plano, Texas, Wheatley says he was a “weather nerd” from a young age with his own weather vane and other meteorological devices outside his house, and admits that he was always a serious child.

“I probably watched the Weather Channel more than I should have,” he said with a smile yesterday. “Me and my dad are the nerds of the family. I’m nothing like my two brothers.”

Wheatley took classes at Colorado in both desert meteorology and aviation meteorology; the latter of which has made him able to relax when he flies, confident that a little turbulence isn’t a danger.

He isn’t so unaffected by certain things, however. Wheatley went to see the Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth about the effects of global warming, but was so disturbed he left halfway through.

In just a couple of days in Foxboro, he saw the full range of New England weather.

“I showed up and it was sunny, then it got cloudy, and now it’s raining. I’m waiting for the snow to roll in,” he said.

Wheatley, a defensive back, plans to complete his two final classes online, but after being given a voluminous playbook, thinks it’s wise he confines his studies to Xs and Os.

Though the rookie mini-camp practices were held in shorts and there was no contact, Wheatley found a way to stand out. His speed is hard not to notice, and he was able to break up more than a couple of passes in drills.

“You have to take it day-by-day. When you’re here, you have to learn; that’s the gist of it,” Wheatley said. “You try to learn quickly so when you’re on the field you can just play.

“You try not to let your head spin too much. Part of your evaluation is how quickly you process things, do you ask questions. They’re looking for guys that aren’t happy to be here.”

Though he’s listed at 5-foot-9, 183 pounds, Wheatley doesn’t shy away from contact. In his final two seasons with the Buffaloes, he had 78 tackles and 10 interceptions, and on draft day, he said he likes to get in on run stopping as well.

“I love it, especially I guess, because everybody perceives me as a little guy. It’s always nice to come in and give it to the running back every once in a while and show him that I’m a little dude but I’m not going to back down from you,” he said. “So I like to mix it up from time to time. Why not? It’s football.”

He and the rest of the rookies head home today for a couple of weeks, but will be back in Foxboro on May 15. Wheatley will spend the time with his family and also in the weight room.

Then, as he said, he’ll pack up all his things and come back, ready to work.

And maybe figure out when the weather will get better around here.

smanza@projo.com