53 Facts About Graham Harrell

1.

Graham Stanton Harrell was born on May 22,1985 and is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current offensive coordinator for the Purdue Boilermakers.

2.

Graham Harrell played college football at Texas Tech from 2004 to 2008.

3.

Graham Harrell played in the Canadian Football League National Football League for 5 seasons from 2009 to 2013, with his longest tenure as a player with the Green Bay Packers.

4.

Graham Harrell served as the offensive coordinator of the North Texas Mean Green, USC Trojans and the West Virginia Mountaineers.

5.

Graham Harrell was signed into the NFL in 2010 by the Green Bay Packers, where he was a part of the Super Bowl XLV win with the Packers over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

6.

Harrell was born to Sam and Kathy Harrell in Brownwood, Texas, where his father was an assistant under legendary Texas high school football coach Gordon Wood.

7.

Graham Harrell's father was hired as head coach at Ennis High School in Ennis, Texas.

8.

Graham Harrell was the starting quarterback for three seasons and led the Ennis Lions to a state Class 4A title as a sophomore in 2001.

9.

Graham Harrell played in the 2004 Oil Bowl, receiving the offensive MVP award.

10.

In 2004, Graham Harrell redshirted his first season at Texas Tech.

11.

Graham Harrell started in every game of the 2006 season, beating out classmate Chris Todd.

12.

Graham Harrell threw for 445 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 rushing touchdown and was named the Offensive MVP.

13.

Graham Harrell threw for 38 touchdowns and 4,555 passing yards, the third-most by a sophomore in NCAA Division I FBS history and the most ever thrown by a sophomore in the history of the Big 12.

14.

Graham Harrell continued the success of the previous season, mainly due to the addition of All-American Wideout Michael Crabtree and the emergence of inside receivers Danny Amendola and Eric Morris.

15.

Graham Harrell being mentioned as a dark horse candidate for the Heisman Trophy.

16.

Graham Harrell was then awarded the Sammy Baugh Trophy awarded to the best passer in College Football.

17.

Graham Harrell was named one of 26 candidates for the 2008 Unitas Award, given to the nation's best senior college football quarterback.

18.

Graham Harrell leaped McCoy to make it to the top of the Heisman poll.

19.

Graham Harrell was one of ten finalists for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and one of thirteen finalists for the Davey O'Brien Award.

20.

Graham Harrell was recognized as the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week and the O'Brien Quarterback of the Week.

21.

Graham Harrell finished fourth in the Heisman race but did not receive an invitation to attend the presentation ceremony.

22.

At halftime, Graham Harrell's hand was x-rayed, and medical examiners advised Graham Harrell to discontinue playing in the game.

23.

Graham Harrell finished with 309 total passing yards and two touchdowns.

24.

Graham Harrell was later cleared to play in the postseason bowl game.

25.

On December 4,2008, the American Football Coaches Association compiled its 2008 AFCA Coaches' All-American Team, with Graham Harrell headlining the list.

26.

On October 25,2008, Graham Harrell passed Philip Rivers to move into sole possession of third place for passing yardage in a career.

27.

On November 22,2008, Graham Harrell passed Ty Detmer to move into second for passing yardage in a career behind Timmy Chang.

28.

Graham Harrell equaled Brennan's record of 147 career touchdowns passing, rushing, and receiving, a record that would be broken the following year by Central Michigan's Dan LeFevour.

29.

Graham Harrell compiled 5,111 passing yards in the season, becoming the first NCAA player to post multiple 5,000-yard passing seasons.

30.

Graham Harrell has received multiple honors, including the 2008 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.

31.

Graham Harrell participated with the Cleveland Browns in their rookie camp the first weekend in May 2009 but was not signed despite coach Eric Mangini giving Harrell praise.

32.

On July 20,2009, Graham Harrell signed a two-year plus an option contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League, joining former Texas Tech teammate Eric Morris who had signed months earlier.

33.

Graham Harrell signed with the Green Bay Packers on May 19,2010.

34.

On September 30,2012, Graham Harrell played in his first game for Green Bay.

35.

Graham Harrell appeared in four regular-season games, completing 2 of 4 passes for 20 yards.

36.

Graham Harrell hosted a weekly sports talk show called the "Witt Ford Red Zone with Graham Harrell" every Monday during the 2012 season on 104.1 FM WRLU and archived at DoorCountyDailyNews.

37.

Graham Harrell was signed by the New York Jets on August 28,2013.

38.

Graham Harrell was brought in after reserve quarterback Greg McElroy re-injured his knee.

39.

Graham Harrell played for one series at the end of the Jets' final 2013 preseason game against the Eagles in relief of Matt Simms.

40.

Graham Harrell was released on September 2,2013 after the Jets signed Brady Quinn.

41.

Graham Harrell first started coaching by accepting a quality control position at Oklahoma State when Mike Gundy hired former Tech offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen to run the Cowboy offense.

42.

Graham Harrell helped tutor the OSU quarterbacks with the new Air Raid system that Gundy had hired Holgorsen to run.

43.

In February 2015, Graham Harrell was named the football program's outside receivers coach, replacing Dennis Simmons.

44.

Graham Harrell became one of Littrell's first hires, as he was named offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at UNT.

45.

At UNT, Graham Harrell inherited an offense that had ranked in the bottom 25 of the country in passing, total yards, and points in 2015.

46.

Graham Harrell improved the unit such that his offenses were ranked in the top 26 nationally in passing, total yards, and points in both 2017 and 2018.

47.

On January 29,2019, Graham Harrell was hired as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Southern California under head coach Clay Helton.

48.

On January 10,2022, Graham Harrell was hired as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at West Virginia University.

49.

On December 20,2022, Graham Harrell was named the offensive coordinator for the Purdue Boilermakers.

50.

Graham Harrell's grandfather served as assistant coach to Gordon Wood.

51.

Graham Harrell has an older brother, Zac, who was a receiver on Ennis High's 2000 State Championship team, and is a graduate of the University of North Texas and coaches at the high school level and is the head football coach and athletic director at Athens High School in Athens, Texas.

52.

Graham Harrell coached at Reagan County and Ennis before retiring from coaching duties in December 2010 due to health problems.

53.

Graham Harrell has been married to Brittney Tomlinson of Tyler, Texas since March 2012.