Jay Graham will begin his first season as a member of Head Coach Tre Lamb's staff in 2024. Graham will serve as ETSU's special teams coordinator and tight ends coach.
Graham has had a storied career both on and off the field. His last collegiate coaching stop was at the University of Alabama under then-Head Coach Nick Saban. Before going to Tuscaloosa, Graham was the running back coach for his alma mater, Tennessee.
Graham established himself as one of the country’s top mentors of running backs with 15 years of coaching experience, including seven years in the SEC. Since 2013, seven of his running backs have been selected in the NFL Draft. Graham was a member of coaching staffs that won the 2013 national title and ACC Championship at Florida State.
Graham returned to Knoxville after two seasons coaching running backs at Texas A&M from 2018-19. The 2019 season saw him mentor true freshman Isaiah Spiller, who rushed for 946 yards and 10 touchdowns en route to SEC All-Freshman honors. Spiller led all SEC freshmen running backs in rushing yards.
In 2018, Graham coached Trayveon Williams into the record books as the junior bested A&M's all-time marks in single-season all-purpose yards (2,038) and rushing yards (1,760). Williams' all-purpose yardage mark was the third-most in SEC history and his rushing mark stands as the seventh-most in SEC history as he paced the league in both categories that year.
Additionally, Williams racked up 18 rushing touchdowns, which tied for fourth-most in a single season as an Aggie. Williams, who earned first-team All-SEC and second-team All-America accolades, went on to be drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft.
Graham played a critical role in the transformation of Cullen Gillaspia from linebacker to fullback as Gillaspia became the first 12th Man to score a touchdown and to hear his name called in the NFL Draft in the 2019 seventh round.
Graham made a tremendous impact in five seasons at Florida State from 2013-17. In addition to running back duties, he also oversaw special teams in his final four seasons with the Seminoles. Among the players he coached at Florida State were future NFL running backs Cam Akers, Dalvin Cook, Devonta Freeman, James Wilder Jr., Karlos Williams, as well as placekicker Roberto Aguayo.
Akers, a five-star prospect recruited by Graham, exploded onto the scene as a freshman in 2017, rushing for 1,025 yards and seven touchdowns.
With Graham's leadership, Cook became a unanimous first-team All-American in 2016, as well as the school's all-time leading rusher. Cook finished his collegiate career with single-season records for rushing yards (1,765 in 2016) and all-purpose yards (2,253 in 2016) and with a school record 4,464 career rushing yards. He finished in the top 10 in voting for the Heisman Trophy in both 2015 and 2016 and went on to become a second round selection of the Minnesota Vikings in the 2017 NFL Draft.
One of Graham's most impressive coaching jobs came with Williams. Graham oversaw his conversion from defensive back to running back in 2013, a move that saw Williams rack up 22 rushing touchdowns in two seasons and finish ninth on the Seminoles' career rushing touchdowns list before joining the NFL.
Graham's first year of work at Florida State in 2013 resulted in a tremendous ground attack that helped the Seminoles go undefeated (14-0) and have one of the most productive offenses in college football history as the Seminoles set an FBS record for points in a season (723). With Pruitt serving as defensive coordinator and Graham on the offensive side of the ball, Florida State topped Auburn in dramatic fashion to claim the 2014 BCS National Championship Game at the Rose Bowl.
Graham's work with the Seminoles' special teams unit was also impressive. In 2015, Cason Beatty led the ACC in punting average (45.2 yard per punt). Placekicker Roberto Aguayo was a three-time first-team All-American and left FSU as the most accurate kicker in college football history with a .9673 conversion rate. He made all 198 of his extra point attempts and 69-of-78 field goals during his career and became the highest drafted kicker since 2005 when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected him in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
Graham spent the 2012 season at Tennessee as the Volunteers' running back coach. In just one year in Knoxville under Graham's guidance, the Vols more than doubled their rushing output from 70.4 yards per game in 2011 to 160.3 yards per game in 2012.
Prior to his coaching success in Tennessee, Graham spent three seasons at South Carolina from 2009-11 where he helped tutor running back Marcus Lattimore to consecutive 1,000-yard seasons before he was selected in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. The Gamecocks went to bowl games each season during Graham's tenure and posted the program's first 11-win season in 2011, a year in which he also coached tight ends in addition to running backs.
Graham also served one-year stints at Miami (Ohio), UT Martin, San Diego and Chattanooga after getting his coaching start as a graduate assistant at Tennessee in 2005.
Graham was a standout All-SEC running back for the Vols from 1993-96, rushing for 2,609 yards, which currently ranks eighth in school history. He earned second-team All-SEC honors as both a junior and a senior and helped Tennessee to three bowl victories – the 1994 Gator Bowl and the 1996 and 1997 Citrus Bowls.
In 1995, Graham rushed for 1,438 yards -- the second-most ever by a Vol – and he collected a school-record 11 100-yard games along with 12 touchdowns. He had 797 yards and 11 scores in 1996, and he ranks second in school history with 14 career 100-yard games, a mark that still stands today.
Following his successful career at Tennessee, Graham was a third-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in 1997. He spent six seasons in the NFL with Baltimore (1997-99), Seattle (2001) and Green Bay (2002).
After his professional football career, the Concord, North Carolina, native returned to Tennessee to earn his bachelor's degree in psychology in 2004 before embarking on his collegiate coaching career. He earned his master's degree in sports management in 2009.
Graham and his wife, Michelle, are the parents of three daughters, Nia, Denae and Kierra, and six sons, Sam, Jayson, Ben, Jack, Jessie and Kellan. Jayson is a freshman for ETSU in 2024.
