Exclusive: Ex-Tennessee football star talks about mental health challenges

Good morning, friends, this is Tennessean storytelling columnist Brad Schmitt.

Longtime Tennessee football fans will remember Jay Graham as a 1990s star running back for the Vols.

A few years later, Graham signed on to be an assistant coach at Alabama in what turned out to be a short-lived stint there.

Graham, soon after starting the job, suddenly left head coach Nick Saban's office and ended up on a hotel room floor across the street, crying and hyperventilating, sports writer Adam Sparks reports.

In an exclusive interview, Graham talks about his mental health challenges and the relief he has found in coaching middle school football.

“I didn’t know what it was. When something happens with your brain, it’s scary,” Graham told Adam. "But you find your foundation when you hit rock bottom.”

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Exclusive: Ex-Tennessee football star talks about mental health challenges