Georgia Tech quarterback James Graham entered the transfer portal, a team spokesman confirmed Thursday morning. Graham, a sophomore, started eight games as a redshirt freshman in 2019, but was displaced by freshman quarterback Jeff Sims this season.
Graham played in one game this season, coming in for Sims in the second half of the loss to Boston College. Graham played four possessions and led the Jackets on a 55-yard touchdown drive.
In a statement posted from his Twitter account, Graham wrote that he has “fought some internal battles for quite a while,” but that he refused to let them be a setback. “I told my mom that I would never give up on my dreams no matter what the situation was,” he wrote. He called his decision to leave Tech “not the end but the beginning of a new chapter.”
Graham started the final eight games of the 2019 season, showing potential and playmaking ability but also inconsistency. The four-star prospect from Fitzgerald High finished the season completing 87 of 193 passes (45.1%) for 1,164 yards with 12 touchdown and seven interceptions. The completion rate was low, hampered by pass-protection issues, but he completed 19 plays of 20 yards or more and developed a big-play connection with wide receiver Ahmarean Brown.
“I think we’re on the right track, and I think you can have a special player with No. 4 throwing it around,” Patenaude said last season after Graham’s first extended appearance, in an early-season loss to Temple.
Graham was at his best against N.C. State in the penultimate game of the season. He completed seven of 15 passes for 129 yards, throwing three touchdown passes (two to Brown) with no interceptions while also rushing for 112 yards and a touchdown in a 28-26 Jackets win.
This season, as a backup to Sims, he was taken off the “Above the Line” chart between the second and third games of the season, putting him beneath Sims and backups Jordan Yates and Tucker Gleason. He handled the situation well, according to Patenaude.
“It’s tough,” Patenaude said before the Boston College game. “It’s tough when you were that guy and now you’re not playing, but his demeanor has been great. He’s got a big smile on his face 95% of the time, he’s doing great academically, he’s handling himself off the field, so I couldn’t be any more proud of what he’s doing.”
As this season will not count against his eligibility, Graham can transfer – and, pending an NCAA rule change expected to grant all athletes one transfer without having to sit out a year – and have three more seasons starting in 2021. He is the third Tech player to put his name into the portal since the start of the season, following defensive tackle Jahaziel Lee and linebacker Cornelius Evans.
In his Twitter post, Graham thanked teammates and coaches and three people in particular — former Tech assistant coach Andy McCollum, who recruited Graham to Tech, coach Geoff Collins and assistant athletic director Chris Breen, who oversees academic services for all Tech athletes.
“I’ve had some of the best memories here at Georgia Tech that I will never forget,” he wrote.
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