Wesley McGriff's Player Progression History

I know that this in no way defines a man as a coach. I also know that my thread title is awful and slightly confusing. But someone asked, in an earlier thread, about the players McGriff has coached that have gone on to the NFL. So I got the board and did the research.

Now, I only went back to 2007. Before that, he holds positions as a recruiting coordinator, Running Back coach, and CB coach. His level of player involvement in those years can get pretty convoluted and I thought better to just stick to his days as a secondary coach.

From 2007-2010 he was the Secondary coach for the Miami Hurricanes.

*To avoid future arguments, A player drafted out of Miami in 2007 would not have been coached by McGriff, because the 2007 draft class would've played under the 2006 season.

2008 - Kenny Phillips. Drafted 31st overall by the Giants. Kenny is the highest drafted player to ever be coached by McGriff. It is important to note, that Phillips only played one season under McGriff and was named to the ACC 1st all team in his sophomore year and the All Freshman team. He was already a well established player before the arrival of McGriff.

2009 - No one was drafted out of Miami's Secondary.

2010 - No one was drafted out of Miami's Secondary. Sam Shields went undrafted to the Packers and has made a significant contribution.

2011 - Brandon Harris. Drafted 60th overall by the Texans. Is a 4th sting player and has had very little impact as a pro. Recording only 14 tackles in his 2 years.
Demarcus Van dyke. Drafted 81st overall by the Raiders. He ran a 4.28 forty, which obviously put him on Al's radar. After recording only 10 tackles and 1 int, he was released by the Raiders and now plays for the Steelers. He is currently on the practice squad.

In 2011 McGriff became the Secondary coach for Vanderbilt.

2012 - Casey Hayward - Drafted 62nd overall by the Packers. Hayward is one of the best defensive backs to come out of the 2012 draft and had a spectacular season. But again, it is important to note that McGriff only coached him for one season and prior to that he was already a well established player and was 3rd in the NCAA for passes defended.


In 6 years of coaching, He's had 4 players drafted into the NFL. 2 of which were already established stars before he arrived on the team.

Of the 300 and something players invited to this years combine. McGriff has coached only one of them. Brandon Mcgee out of Miami. Wait, it gets worse. Mcgee was one of the top prospects coming out of college. In his first 2 years at Miami, he was considered a bust and failed to make any impact on the team. It wasn't till his Junior year, (the year McGriff left) that Mcgee became a huge contributor and starter for the Canes.

Holy crap! I went into this thread thinking I was going to come up with all this great coaching history for McGriff and now I've just made myself depressed.

Ole Miss was 83rd in defending the pass last year. They were 24th in 2011, before McGriff was hired.

His Highlights seem to come before his time in Oxford.

Vanderbilt was 36th in defending the pass in 2011. They were 80th in 2010.

Miami was 3rd in defending the pass in 2010. 36th in 2009. 13th in 2008. 40th in 2007.

I'm sure none of the information I've provided has any bearing on the coaching abilities of Wesley McGriff , but I thought it would be useful info for the die hard Who Dat.