It’s official, Jay Graham has left Texas A&M for Tennessee. The school confirmed the news on Thursday.
Now we know the specifics of what it cost the Volunteers to bring the former standout Tennessee running back home.
According to Blake Toppmeyer of the Knoxville News Sentinel, Graham has been given a two-year contract worth $575,000 annually to return to Rocky Top.
Graham played at Tennessee from 1993 until 1996 before embarking on a six-year NFL career and returned for the first time as a member of Derek Dooley’s 2012 Tennessee staff before leaving for Florida State in 2013. Graham worked for Jimbo Fisher at FSU and Texas A&M before reuniting with Pruitt in Knoxville — they were both on the 2013 FSU staff that won the national title.
During his previous stops around the SEC and ACC, Graham has coached and developed the likes of Isaiah Spiller and Trayveon Williams at Texas A&M, Cam Akers, Dalvin Cook and Devonta Freeman at Florida State and Marcus Lattimore at South Carolina.
“I’m excited to welcome Jay Graham back to Tennessee,” Pruitt said in a released statement. “He is one of the best assistant coaches in the country, and his track record for developing running backs speaks for itself, as you can see several of the young men he has coached playing on Sundays. He’s the total package as a coach with his experience playing in the NFL and his years coaching in the SEC and ACC. He has tremendous work ethic and an impressive ability to connect with young people.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
