Aaron Geddes Graham (born May 22, 1973) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

who played six seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

(1996–1999), the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

(2001), and the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

(2002). Graham also played college football for the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the M ...

from 1991 to 1995, where he played in three national championship games, winning two in 1994 and 1995.

Early life

Graham attended

Denton High School Denton High School is a public high school located in the city of Denton, Texas and classified as a 5A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Denton Independent School District located in central Denton County and was the original high school f ...

in Denton, Texas, where he played for the Denton Broncos high school football team.

College career

Graham attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers from 1991 to 1995 under head coach

Tom Osborne Thomas William Osborne (born February 23, 1937) is an American former football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and politician from Nebraska. He served as head football coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers from 1973 to 1997 (25 sea ...

. Graham played as the starting center for most of the 1993 through 1995 seasons, and played in three national championship games, winning two back-to-back in 1994 and 1995. During his 1993 season, Graham and the Cornhuskers entered the

1994 Orange Bowl The 1994 Orange Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1994. The contest was the Bowl Coalition National Championship Game for the 1993 NCAA Division I-A football season. This 60th edition to the Orange Bowl featured the Nebras ...

ranked number 2 at 11-0 but lost to

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

. In 1994, Graham and the Cornhuskers finished the season with an 13–0 record, beating Miami for the national title in the

1995 Orange Bowl The 1995 Orange Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1995, as the 61st edition of the Orange Bowl and the national championship game for the 1994 season. It featured the Nebraska Cornhuskers of the Big Eight and the Miami ...

. In his senior season, Graham and the Cornhuskers won the rest of their regular season games, finishing 12–0. Nebraska won the championship game against Florida in the Fiesta Bowl, 62–24. As a senior, Graham was named the 1995 AP All-American Football Player. He won multiple awards during his college career such as Academic All-American from 1994 to 1995 and the 1996 Top Eight Award that is given to the nation's elite scholar athletes. While playing

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

he was also recognized by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

for "athletic accomplishments, academic achievements, character, leadership and other activities".

Professional career

Graham was selected by Arizona in the fourth round of the 1996 NFL Draft. Graham played six seasons as center in the NFL with the

(1996–1999), the

(2001), and the

(2002). Graham was planning on going back for his 7th season with the

, but instead retired after six seasons with the NFL.

References

External links

Stats Crew profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Aaron 1973 births Living people People from Las Vegas, New Mexico Players of American football from Denton, Texas American football centers Nebraska Cornhuskers football players Arizona Cardinals players Oakland Raiders players Tennessee Titans players Players of American football from New Mexico Las Vegas Outlaws (XFL) players