Nathaniel Donnell Abraham (born October 8, 1973) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach and former

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

who is the current defensive coordinator for the St. Louis Battlehawks of the United Football League (UFL). He was selected in the third round of the

1996 NFL draft The 1996 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The NFL draft, draft was held April 20–21, 1996 NFL seas ...

. In his career, he played for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

(1996–2001) and the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

(2002–2004).

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Life after football

After considering retirement since the 2004 season ended, he finally decided to do so on July 15, 2005. Although he had two restaurant businesses going in South Carolina, Abrahams was searching for a post-playing occupation, and during his playing years he swore to himself that he would never become a coach. However, while on the sidelines of his oldest son's youth football practice, a local high school coach, whose son played on the same team as Abraham's, approached him about helping out his team. Before long, Abraham became the head coach at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg. Abraham guided Gibbs to its first district title in 2009 but resigned after a 3–7 season in 2010. He was defensive backs coordinator (2011–2012) at

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The ...

and later (2012) at East Lake High School. In 2013, he was the head coach of the Clearwater High School football team and resigned in 2015. He was (2015–2017) the defensive coordinator at

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a University-preparatory school, preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. The organization is set across over 600 acres (243 ha) and features programs consisting of sport ca ...

, in Bradenton, Florida. On February 15, 2017, he was named defensive assistant coach for the

Illinois Fighting Illini football The Illinois Fighting Illini football program represents the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) level. The Fighting Illini are a founding member of ...

, joining Head Coach Lovie Smith's coaching team. Abraham left the Illinois program in the summer of 2018. In November 2018, Abraham joined

Steve Spurrier Stephen Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945) is an American former football player and coach. He played ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often referred to by his nicknam ...

's Orlando Apollos coaching staff as defensive backs coach. In June 2022, Abraham joined Anthony Becht's coaching staff as the Defensive Coordinator of St. Louis.

Personal life

Abraham's son, Micah, played college football at

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

and was selected in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL draft by the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

References

1973 births Living people Sportspeople from Orangeburg, South Carolina American football cornerbacks Players of American football from South Carolina East Tennessee State Buccaneers football players National Conference Pro Bowl players New York Jets players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Tampa Bay Storm coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Orlando Apollos coaches Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School alumni St. Louis Battlehawks coaches 20th-century American sportsmen {{defensiveback-1970s-stub