Photo: Metro Nashville Police Department
A former NFL running back turned high school football coach was busted in a prostitution sting after allegedly paying to have sex with a person he suspected to be a 16-year-old girl.
Jay Graham, 50, who played for three NFL teams in six seasons and currently works as the head football coach at Centennial High School in Franklin, Tennessee, was charged with patronizing prostitution with a minor and solicitation of a minor for aggravated statutory rape, according to a Metro Nashville Police Department news release. Graham is accused of responding to a fake adult escort website and agreeing to pay $120 for sex, despite the person he believed he was talking to saying she was underage.
The former running back was detained upon arrival at a Nashville hotel after handing the payment to a person who was actually an undercover police officer, according to the news release, which also confirmed that to other men, Aaron Barnack, 46, of Erin, and Anthony Proctor, 20, of Hermitage, were also busted in the prostitution sting. Graham's bond was reported to be set at $45,000, according to the department.
Graham was selected by the Baltimore Ravens at No. 64 overall in the third-round of the 1997 NFL Draft and spent three years with the franchise before stints with the Seattle Seahawks in 2001 and Green Bay Packers in 2002, as well as the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes in 2003. The former University of Tennessee standout returned to his alma mater as a graduate assistant in 2005 before working as a running backs coach at several college football programs, which included multiple later stints at Tennessee in 2012 and 2020, as well as Florida State during its BCS National Championship season in 2013.
Graham last worked as the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach at East Tennessee State University in 2024 before being hired as the head coach at Centennial High School earlier this year.