Myles Graham has dreamt of one thing only since he was young, with the goal to always don the orange and blue for the Florida Gators. Graham has not just done that, but has also become one of the team’s biggest defensive stalwart’s after leading Florida in tackles in 2025. As the Gainesville native enters year three of his collegiate career, he takes another challenge head on: leading the defensive unit in a new era of Gators football, starting Saturday against Florida Atlantic.
Amid a coaching change that saw Jon Sumrall shake up the roster, Graham’s presence on the team stayed static. Sumrall knew how important a player like him was to have around, boasting both freakish athleticism and gift to direct others on defense. The most glaring aspect that made Graham stand out as someone the coach wanted to return was his consistency, as Sumrall knows each time what he will get out of the junior linebacker.
“Myles Graham has been really steady as a leader,” Sumrall said. “He’s been a positive elder statesman and a tremendous leader in that room.”
As the overhauled defensive unit continues to grow, the front seven is one of the groups that has improved the most. Throughout the entire offseason, new defensive coordinator Brad White sang the praises of the steps the defensive line and linebackers made in elevating their talent. To Graham, the progress transcends the emphasis on talent and is equally a testament to how they have bonded under his guidance as a leader.
“I really think we obviously were very talented, but we have worked together very well,” Graham told WRUF’s Kevin Winter on the Gator Sports Network from Learfield. “I think that that’s more important than talent, honestly, because you could be very talented but still not know what to do and not know your job. We’re a close-knit group of guys, which is very important.”
Graham returns as both a leader and one of the few players left from the previous regime. The latter of the two reasons is one that he does not take lightly, understanding the importance of Sumrall’s faith in him.
“I feel like that means that I put good tape on film last year and I’m a guy of value to Coach Sumrall, which means a lot,” Graham said. “I think that helps me become a leader too, that guys see that and they can trust me to lead them.”
For Graham, it is also not just the word “leader” that has an effect on his side of the ball. It is using that title granted to him as an opportunity to unify the defense. The accountability falls on Graham to ensure the development during the offseason does not go to waste, with the unit not losing sight of what they can accomplish.
“This defense can be very tenacious. We have to do our job first and foremost,” Graham said. “That’s the most important thing: doing our job and communicating. That’s what we need to do to be great.”
Following in His Father’s Footsteps
Those leadership qualities were rooted from a young age, with Graham drawing inspiration from within his own household. The linebacker spent his childhood looking up to his father, former NFL veteran and current Santa Fe High School football coach Earnest Graham. Watching his dad fueled Graham’s passion for football and built a familial bond through the game.
“He always loved it just from seeing his dad play and he had decided early on that’s what he wanted to do,” said Graham’s mother, Alicia Graham.
However, the road to getting on the field was never linear for him, with his family ensuring he explored all his options before committing fully to football. Graham played basketball, soccer, golf and tennis, but used each sport as a stepping stone to the game he loved deeply in football. He focused on what skills could translate from each experience to football, with the ultimate aim to get on the field as soon as possible.
That opportunity came at the youth level after Graham’s determination broke through his father’s assurance to discover other athletic pursuits. From early on, it was evident that his time spent fighting for rebounds and developing his agility on the pitch had built the foundation for what would become a gifted star on the gridiron.
After putting on the pads and lacing up the cleats for the first time at 10 years old, Graham made waves because of his knack for the defensive side and ability to command a team. By the time he was in eighth grade, his mother knew that Graham was truly special.
“He had been put into a game without his dad’s knowledge and seeing him come right up the middle and lay another player out shocked both the crowd and us,” Alicia Graham said. “He was so intense, he was so focused, and you could just see that transition of, ‘Oh we need to take this serious because you know he’s taking it serious and give him as much support as possible.’”
Road to Gainesville
The journey through the game he loved carried him onto the high school level, where a familiar face would be coaching him. His dad guided him as his head coach through his first two years at the Evangelical Christian School in Naples, where the family ended up after moving multiple times in Florida. It would be here where Graham’s name garnered buzz under the tutelage of his father.
Graham’s sophomore season at Evangelical Christian saw him burst onto the scene as one of the best two-way players in the state of Florida. His 130 tackles, three tackles for loss, eight pass breakups, two forced fumbles and two interceptions in just 10 games were extraordinary, not to mention his offensive contributions. On the other side of the ball, Graham rushed for 595 yards and five touchdowns, boosting his notoriety as a double threat and impressive recruit.
That is when everything he envisioned as a child came to fruition. Graham received 30 Division I offers, the most important of them to him being the chance to play at Florida. The chance to strap on the Gators-adorned helmet was not taken lightly by anyone in the family.
“We’ve always taught him that whatever he does, to do it with excellence and to the best of his ability. That’s what the University of Florida represents,” Alicia Graham said. “It just means the world having him out there to follow in his father’s footsteps, but also set his own paths and trails and blaze them.”
Following his stellar second year, his family moved to Atlanta and transferred to Woodward Academy, where he played out his junior season and officially committed to Florida in October 2022. Graham also played high school football under someone other than his dad for the first time, a change that tested a long-standing bond between father and son that existed both on the field and off it.
“We have pictures of Miles having his dad come home and showing him how to run drills and videos of different things like that,” Alicia Graham said. “It definitely got intense at times as he was coaching him and it got to a point where, as much as Ernest loved it, he figured he had developed him enough and it was time for other coaches to be able to step in and do that.”
That theme would reoccur after closing off his recruitment, when Graham transferred to Buchholz High School for his senior year as an effort to acclimate to the town he would soon call home at UF. The move paid dividends, as Graham captained a 13-1 Bobcats squad and added 82 tackles, nine tackles for loss, three sacks and 600 rushing yards for 17 touchdowns to close out his high school résumé.
The show of support from his family to move once again partially evolved Graham into the player that trots out on Saturdays at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. His mother believes the further change was a significant boost to help transition Graham to what he would tackle when joining the SEC.
“It was a different level of football in Gainesville,” Alicia Graham said. “It was physical, fast and I think it helped him confidence-wise to know that he can fit into that environment as well and be a leader in that environment. It certainly helped him to level up his game.”
Making his Mark
After the conclusion of his development in high school, Graham immediately made an impact in his first year at UF. He appeared in all 13 games, totaling 30 tackles, one sack, one forced fumble and one interception.
His role would expand in year two at Florida, where Graham became the first linebacker to lead the team in tackles (76) since 2021. Graham was also one of only four players in the SEC to notch 75 or more tackles combined with seven or more tackles for loss in the regular season.
While the statistics for Graham were the main story in 2025, what happened in between plays stood out. The second-year linebacker received and relayed each play called to the defense, a rarity for a player at that point in their college career. While the responsibility was granted to him quickly, the duty was one that Graham had been ready for since his earliest days.
“I always call him the forerunner, so that speaks to his leadership skills. You know, he’s a natural-born leader,” Alicia Graham said. “We [Earnest and Alicia] always helped him be confident and comfortable in that as he was younger.”
As he opens the 2026 season, Graham will repeat that role once more, with the emphasis accentuated due to him being one of the few returners from last year. However, despite his increased success year-to-year, Graham still feels he left a lot to be desired out on the field last year.
“I think it’s saying something that I was the leading tackler and I didn’t play up to my standard from last year,” Graham said. “I think I can play even better every single game.”
The next step for the third-year linebacker is to build on the progress he has made over the past two years. His statistics skyrocketing year-to-year matched with his consistency as a captain on the defensive end, all signs point upward for Graham in 2026. The biggest question left standing: What does that leadership look like in the first year under Sumrall?
“Leading by example and bringing guys with me. That just means bringing the energy when stuff gets hard,” Graham said. “Everybody can lead when things are going good, but it’s about who leads when things are going bad. Bringing your team out of that adversity hole is very important.”
