Tershawn Wharton's Unlikely Journey from Missouri S&T to Arrowhead Stadium

Around a year ago, Tershawn Wharton realized he’d have to put in a significant amount of work to earn a shot in professional football after departing NCAA Division II program Missouri S&T.

The work wasn’t done when the Kansas City Chiefs signed him as an undrafted free agent following the 2020 NFL Draft, and it certainly isn’t complete now. Wharton is, however, beginning to make a name for himself as a contributing member of the Chiefs' defensive line.

“[I’m] just going out there and competing every day, getting my habits down of what I’m going to do each and every day, and learning how to become a pro,” Wharton told members of the media Wednesday. “That's really what it’s been.”

Wharton picked up his first career sack in the Chiefs’ 35-9 win over the New York Jets last Sunday.

The play occurred on 3rd and 7 late in the second quarter, where he downed Jets quarterback Sam Darnold for a loss of five yards with assistance from safety Daniel Sorensen. It helped the Chiefs hold the Jets to a field goal.

Turk's sack holds the Jets to another field goal!#NYJvsKC on CBS pic.twitter.com/lSzJQTC4tw
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) November 1, 2020

Empty set for the Jets and the Chiefs rush with 5. Wharton crashes the middle with Jones working over the top of him into the right B gap. Wharton sheds his blocker with one arm and gets the sack on Darnold. pic.twitter.com/lWMkh6sUff
— travis (@nflstuff999) November 3, 2020

“The sack, that was the first one, so it’s always good when you get the first one,” Wharton said. “We caused something up front.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Wharton is the second-best-graded rookie defensive lineman this year.

He’s played 204 defensive snaps this season, posting 19 total tackles (11 solo, 8 assisted), two tackles for loss, and one forced fumble across all eight games.

#Chiefs DI Tershawn Wharton is currently the second-highest graded rookie defensive lineman in the NFL, only trailing #2 overall pick Chase Young.

• 1st - Young: 82.0
• 2nd - Wharton: 71.9
• 3rd - Doug Costin: 64.4

📸: Robert Hanashiro, USA Today#ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/HH6uyqLvFk
— PFF KC Chiefs (@PFF_Chiefs) November 2, 2020

Wharton said now-injured offensive lineman Kelechi Osemele helped him grow at the beginning of the season. He added the Chiefs’ defensive line has been a big help along the way as well.

“Just being in there with Chris [Jones], Frank [Clark], Mike Pennel, [Derrick] Nnadi, all of those guys with experience, they’ve taken me under their wing,” Wharton said. “They pull me to the side when something is going on and they tell me how to fix it. I always just drive on that.

“Knowing that they ask me and pull me to the side, they know that you have potential. They just make sure that I’m on top of myself and hold me to a higher standard in the locker room.”

The standard is something Wharton said he began to work for as he began planning to make a jump from Division II to the NFL.

“I took a few steps of going out finding and training myself throughout the offseason because at that level, people don’t really push yourself throughout the offseason," Wharton said.

"I just pushed myself throughout the offseason and reaching out to different trainers and making sure I was going to be able to compete not only at my level, but if I did get talent in front of me that was higher, competing with them as well.”