Returning to His Roots (Graham Harrell)

Harry · July 1, 2016

DENTON – Ennis High School is a mere 81 miles south from Apogee Stadium, the new home of offensive coordinator Graham Harrell. Ennis is where Harrell set countless Texas high school records and earned a Class 4A state title in 2001 as a sophomore with the Lions, under the tutelage of his father, then-Ennis head coach Sam Harrell.

Following playing career stops in Lubbock (Texas Tech), New Jersey (New York Jets), Green Bay, Wisconsin, (Packers) and Pullman, Washington (Washington State), Harrell has returned to the Lone Star State to take over the Mean Green offense under new head coach Seth Littrell.

Returning to a place close to home was one of many reasons that the 31 year-old jumped at the opportunity to join Littrell’s staff.

“As far as Denton is concerned, it’s where I’m from,” Harrell said of his arrival with the Mean Green. “Well, not exactly where I grew up, but it’s coming home for me and it’s kind of close for my wife as well. More importantly, it’s sitting in an unbelievable recruiting base. There are great players right here and it’s an area that I grew up in that I’m proud of and I believe we can win here. All of that attracted me; coach Littrell, the area and that whole group of people we have who believe we can win here. We know it’s a challenge, but we are excited about that challenge.”

The son of a coach always seemed destined to become one himself. His former head coach at Texas Tech, and now the current coach of the Washington State Cougars, Mike Leach, saw it right away. Harrell’s father, now an offensive coordinator himself at Fort Worth Christian, was the head coach at Ennis from 1994-2009. He led the way with a spread attack for the Lions, leading them to 13-straight playoff appearances and three class 4A championships. His son attributes a lot of credit to his father, and he shared the dream of being a coach from a young age.

“I think my dad influenced me more than anyone,” Harrell opined. “He’s obviously had a ton of success with high school ball. That’s what I grew up wanting to be; I wanted to be a high school football coach because that’s what my dad was. What my dad did that was better than anyone around is the way he treated his kids, handled them and handled the staff. The way he did that is something that I hope I can do.”

Leach speaks of how advanced Harrell was at evaluating film when he arrived in Lubbock as a freshman; which he credited to his father’s discipline as a coach. Analyzing film, knowing where a certain player should be to exploit a defense is something that Leach says his former quarterback and assistant excelled at right away.

That understanding of the nuances of the offense he was tasked to run with the Red Raiders paved the way for some major successes at Tech. Harrell finished his collegiate career with an NCAA-record 134 touchdown passes, the second-most career passing yards (15,793) and posted the third-highest career passing yardage average with 350.96 yards-per-game. He was also named AT&T’s All-America Player of the Year and a First-Team All-American as a senior in 2008, leading the nation with 5,111 passing yards to go along with 45 touchdown passes to only nine interceptions. That Red Raiders team finished ranked 12th in the country with an 11-2 record and a Cotton Bowl appearance.

“Quite frankly, I think, Graham’s NFL career, he probably cut it short a little bit because he was excited about getting in to coaching,” Leach said of Harrell’s post-Texas Tech career. “That’s because it was one of those deals where he could have kept training, gotten into camps and stuck somewhere, but he was real excited about getting into coaching; I know that. He’s just a good, sharp, reliable guy. The other thing in his case, as young as he is, one, it’s good that he has always been a guy that has constantly studied film, but the other important thing for him is that he learns and sorts things out quickly.”