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

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

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 eccentricity ...

who played six seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(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) West division, and play t ...

(1996–1999), the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

(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 club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

(2002). Graham also played college football for the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Universit ...

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

High school career

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 ...

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 a former American 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 season ...

. 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

1993 Orange Bowl The 1993 Orange Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1993. This 59th edition to the Orange Bowl featured the Nebraska Cornhuskers, and the Florida State Seminoles. Nebraska came into the game ranked number 11 at 9–2. Florid ...

ranked number 11 at 9-2 but lost to

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

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

. 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 ball for

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

he was also recognized by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

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

Professional career

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

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Aaron 1973 births Living people People from Las Vegas, New Mexico Sportspeople from Denton, Texas Players of American football from Texas American football centers Nebraska Cornhuskers football players Arizona Cardinals players Oakland Raiders players Tennessee Titans players Players of American football from New Mexico Sportspeople from the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Las Vegas Outlaws (XFL) players