Maurice T. Drayton (born October 5, 1976) is an

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 wi ...

coach and former player who is currently the head coach of

The Citadel Bulldogs The Citadel Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent The Citadel. All sports participate in the NCAA Division I except football, which competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Since 1936, varsity sports have ...

. He has previously coached the Charleston Swamp Foxes, Seinajoki Crocodiles, Goose Creek High School,

South Carolina State Bulldogs The South Carolina State Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs (also SC State) sponsors fourteen sports teams representing South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina in intercollegiate athletics, including men’s and women's basketball, ...

Coastal Carolina Chanticleers The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (, ) are the athletic teams that represent Coastal Carolina University. They participate in Division I of the NCAA as a member of the Sun Belt Conference in most sports, having joined that conference as a full ...

Southern Miss Golden Eagles The Southern Miss Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles (also known as Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles) are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), located in Hattiesburg, Miss ...

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canad ...

, Indianapolis Colts, Green Bay Packers, and

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West div ...

Early life and education

Maurice Drayton was born on October 5, 1976, in Charleston, South Carolina. He attended Berkeley High School, graduating in 1994. He later accepted a scholarship offer from

The Citadel The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one of six senior military colleges in the United States. ...

. In five seasons with the school, Drayton compiled 145 tackles, 17 passes defensed and three interceptions. He earned

varsity letter A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its recipient was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met. Description ...

s in his final three years with the team.

Coaching career

The Citadel

After going unselected in the 1999 NFL Draft, Drayton started a coaching career with his alma mater, The Citadel. He served as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respo ...

and secondary coach during

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, before becoming

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

s and offensive tackles coach in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. He shifted to wide receivers coach in 2001, outside linebackers in 2002, and secondary/special teams coach/recruiting coordinator from 2003 to 2005.

Charleston Swamp Foxes

While serving as a position coach at The Citadel, Drayton also coached the wide receivers for the Charleston Swamp Foxes of

AF2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

from

to 2002.

Seinajoki Crocodiles and Goose Creek High School

In 2006, Drayton served as a defensive coordinator in the European Football League (EFL) with the Seinajoki Crocodiles in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. He returned to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 2007 as an assistant coach and administrator for Goose Creek High School.

South Carolina State

From

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

to 2009, Drayton coached the special teams and defensive backs at

South Carolina State University South Carolina State University (SCSU or SC State) is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. It is the only public, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina, is a memb ...

. While he was there, they won two conference championships and twice made the NCAA playoffs. In 2009, the team was ranked number 7 in the nation for pass defense in number 5 in total defense. They won a national championship in 2009.

Coastal Carolina

Drayton left South Carolina State in 2010 to join the

. He was with the team from 2010 to 2011, serving as special teams, wide receivers, and assistant head coach. He helped them achieve their first conference title since 2006 and had two receivers earn all-conference honors.

Southern Miss

He served as secondary coach of the

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. Defensive back Kalan Reed, who went on to play several 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), recorded 21 tackles and a

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

return

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

as a true freshman under Drayton.

Montreal Alouettes

Drayton was a guest coach of defense and special teams in with the

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL).

The Citadel (second stint)

Drayton returned to his alma mater of The Citadel in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, serving as assistant head coach, defensive coordinator, and cornerbacks coach in two seasons. He helped The Citadel earn several records in 2015, with the team winning six conference games and nine total. Their defense that year was second in scoring defense, total defense, rushing defense, and sacks. They also led their conference with 31 takeaways, just ten total touchdown passes allowed, a 36.5 third-down conversion percentage and 11 fumble recoveries. The secondary also recorded five interceptions returned for touchdowns, most in the FCS. Defensive lineman Mitchell Jeter was named conference defensive player of the year and two players earned

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

honors.

Indianapolis Colts

Drayton returned to professional ranks in , serving as the special teams coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts in the

(NFL). He helped Pat McAfee earn

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

honors in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

and punter

Rigoberto Sanchez Rigoberto Jovany Sanchez (born September 8, 1994) is an American football punter for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Hawaii and was signed by the Colts as an undrafted free agent in ...

earn a position on the all-rookie team the following year. Placekicker

Adam Vinatieri Adam Matthew Vinatieri (born December 28, 1972) is an American former football placekicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 24 seasons with the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts. Considered one of the greatest ...

recorded two 100-point seasons, extending his record to twenty seasons achieving that mark.

Green Bay Packers

Drayton left the Colts in to join the Green Bay Packers. He was their assistant special teams coach from

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

, before being promoted to special teams coordinator in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

. The Packers’ special teams was consistently one of the worst units throughout the 2021 season as they were ranked 32nd in the NFL by the Football Outsiders DVOA, Packer Central, and ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'' writer Rick Gosselin. During the 2021–22 NFL playoffs, Drayton came under scrutiny after the special teams unit struggled throughout the game against the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in the Divisional Round, most notably allowing a blocked punt returned for a game tying touchdown in the fourth quarter, having a field goal blocked at the end of the second quarter, and having just 10 players on the field during

Robbie Gould Robert Paul Gould III (; born December 6, 1982) is an American football placekicker for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played with the Chicago Bears from 2005 to 2015, during which he became the franchise's all ...

's game winning field goal during the 13–10 loss, despite taking a timeout just prior to the kick. Drayton was fired from his position on February 1, 2022.

Las Vegas Raiders

On March 2, 2022, it was announced that Drayton was hired by the

as assistant special teams coach.

The Citadel (third stint)

Drayton accepted the head coaching role at The Citadel in December 2022.

References

External links

The Citadel profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drayton, Maurice 1976 births Living people American football cornerbacks Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football coaches Green Bay Packers coaches Indianapolis Colts coaches Las Vegas Raiders coaches Montreal Alouettes coaches South Carolina State Bulldogs football coaches Southern Miss Golden Eagles football coaches The Citadel Bulldogs football coaches The Citadel Bulldogs football players High school football coaches in South Carolina People from Moncks Corner, South Carolina Coaches of American football from South Carolina Players of American football from South Carolina African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople