Brandon Graham

Brandon Lee Graham (born April 3, 1988) is an American football defensive end for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL).

Born and raised in Detroit, Graham attended Crockett Vocational Tech, a school that began participating in Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) football competitions in 1996 and that did not have a proper locker room for its football team before moving in his senior season.

Since the football field had no lights, parents had to shine their car lights on the field for late practices.

At Crockett, Graham, who had been playing competitive football since age seven, was expected to make an immediate impact upon joining the football team's starting lineup as a sophomore, and at the end of the season he was recognized as an honorable mention lineman 2003 All-Detroit selection by The Detroit News.

As a junior, Graham served as linebacker, offensive guard, placekicker, and punter for his team, and he led his team to the MHSAA state championships, while becoming one of three juniors named to the 2004 First-team All-Detroit team with one source listing him as a placekicker and the other as a linebacker on the team.

Crockett won Detroit Public School League Division 1 championship game at Ford Field and entered the Division 5 MHSAA semifinals with a 12–0 record, but Crockett lost 9–0 to defending state champion Lumen Christi Catholic School.

In addition to recording 91 tackles (20 for a loss), he maintained a 3.8 grade point average.

In one game, he posted twelve tackles, four sacks, four forced fumbles, two blocked punts and scored on a 78-yard fake punt.

He was selected for the Associated Press first-team Class B all-state team as a linebacker.

In high school, he was a highly decorated and highly rated linebacker who served as captain for the 2006 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

He was listed on numerous All-American lists and was a finalists for some of the highest individual honors a high school football player can earn.

In high school, Rivals.com ranked Graham as the top class of 2006 high school football prospect in the state of Michigan, the number two inside linebacker prospect and the overall fifteenth best prospect in the nation.

Scout.com listed him as the number three linebacker in the nation and described him as the number one overall prospect in the midwest.

Scout also described him as "arguably the best inside linebacker in the nation".

ESPNU ranked him as the number two inside linebacker and number thirty-one prospect in the nation.

Recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, listed Graham as the best linebacker in the country for USA Today.

During the season, after missing four weeks to a knee injury, Graham was chosen as one of 78 players to participate in the January 7, 2006 U.S. Army All-American Bowl at the Alamodome.

He was also named as a finalist for both the Parade All-America High School player of the year (The high school equivalent of the Heisman Trophy) and the Walter Payton Trophy.

He was the 2008 and 2009 Big Ten Conference tackles for loss leader.

In 2008, he led the Big Ten Conference in tackles for loss, with 20 in 11 games.

As a member of the 2008 Michigan Wolverines football team he earned Second-team 2008 Big Ten All-conference recognition from both the coaches and the media.

Graham was the 2009 Big Ten Conference co-MVP as recognized by the Chicago Tribune Silver Football award.

He was the 2009 FBS tackles for a loss (per game) champion after finishing second in 2008 by 0.01 tackles for loss per game.

After completing his career as defensive end for the 2009 Michigan Wolverines football team, he had a total of 29.5 career sacks and 56 career tackles for loss for the Michigan Wolverines football team.

In 2009, he posted 26 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks in 12 games.

He was a finalist for the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football Hendricks Award.

He was a First-team 2009 All-Big Ten selection by the coaches and media.

He was named to several First-team and Second-team 2009 All-America lists by various publications.

He was selected by the Eagles in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft with the thirteenth selection in the draft and the first from the Big Ten Conference.

He played college football at Michigan.

Graham was also named MVP of the 2010 Senior Bowl.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution listed him at 15th among their national top 25 prospects.

Entering his senior season, he was the overwhelming selection as the best high school football player in the state of Michigan according to The Detroit News.

He had run a 4.43-second 40-yard dash at the Nike Summer football camp.

As a senior, he intended to also play tight end and fullback.

One Detroit News preseason analysts listed him at linebacker, tight end and offensive guard.

Graham was a second team 2016 All-Pro selection and a 2020 Pro Bowl selection.

He led the Super Bowl LII champion Philadelphia Eagles in quarterback sacks with 9.5 during the 2017 NFL season.

Graham is responsible for one of the biggest plays in Philadelphia sports history, as he posted a pivotal strip sack on Tom Brady in the closing minutes of Super Bowl LII, which was the franchise's first Super Bowl victory.

As a youth, Graham played football for the Police Athletic League Detroit Giants for seven years until joining the eighth grade team.