High School

Earnest Graham tabbed as Alachua Santa Fe's head football coach

Graham formerly played at the University of Florida before playing for the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Andy Villamarzo

Earnest Graham, the ECS Coach and a coach for the North team, is seen at halftime during the The 33rd annual Rotary South All-Star Game at Fort Myers High on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. Graham52
Earnest Graham, the ECS Coach and a coach for the North team, is seen at halftime during the The 33rd annual Rotary South All-Star Game at Fort Myers High on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. Graham52 / Andrew West/The News-Press / USA TODAY NETWORK

One of the University of Florida's top running backs to come out of Gainesville is back to running his own high school football program once again.

According to the Gainesville Sun's Noah Ram via X, Graham has been hired as Alachua Santa Fe's next head football coach. Last season, Graham coached at Gainesville High School as an assistant.

During his time with the Gators, Graham ranks third all-time in touchdowns for running backs with 33 and rushed for 3,065 yards on 603 carries.

Graham played primarily his entire NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, rushing for 2,047 yards and scoring 15 touchdowns over the course of eight seasons.

This isn't the first time Graham has been a head coach on the high school level, as he previously led North Fort Myers (2014-2018) and Evangelical Christian (2019-2021). During his time with the Red Knights, Graham went 25-14 and with the Sentinels finished with a record of 10-21 through three seasons.

Overall, Graham is 35-35 over the course of eight seasons as a high school lead man.

The former NFL running back takes over a Raiders' program that went 1-9 in 2024 and will be tasked in trying to turnaround a team that's won two games in the last three years.

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Andy Villamarzo
ANDY VILLAMARZO

Andy Villamarzo has been a sports writer in the Tampa Bay (FL) Area since 2007, writing for publications such as Tampa Bay Times, The Tampa Tribune, The Suncoast News, Tampa Beacon, Hernando Sun to name a few. Andy resides out of the Tarpon Springs, FL area and started as a writer with SB Live Sports in the summer of 2022 covering the Tampa Bay Area. He has quickly become one of Florida's foremost authorities on high school sports, appearing frequently on podcasts, radio programs and digital broadcasts as an expert on team rankings, recruiting and much more.

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