photo by: Utah State Athletics

Cornerback D.J. Graham II plays for Utah State in this undated photo.

Kansas fans might not know D.J. Graham II well quite yet, but they’ve certainly seen him play before.

One particular play of his, at least.

Graham was a cornerback for Oklahoma in September 2021 when, with the Sooners up a pair of touchdowns and trying to halt Nebraska’s drive late in the fourth quarter, he leapt backwards toward wideout Levi Falck, reached straight up with his right arm and snatched the ball out of the air for a dramatic one-handed interception.

“I couldn’t hear anything,” Graham recalled on Thursday. “Everything went in slow motion. It was kind of just ‘see ball, get ball.’ It didn’t really hit until I got up. You hear the crowd noise. I just remember seeing this specific dude. He stared at me, pointed at me — I’m just like ‘Yeah, you know.'”

The pick was the top play on “SportsCenter” and has found its way into numerous highlight compilations in the years since. The result is that a lot of people know Graham’s defining accomplishment better than they know Graham himself.

“I kind of have to deal with that,” said Graham, now a sixth-year senior out of Fort Worth, Texas. “But yeah, that’s the No. 1 thing they bring up. Or my teammates, they find out that was me, like, ‘Bro, that was you?'”

In the four years since, Graham’s college career has taken him places he would never have imagined, including KU, which opposing teams used to see as an “automatic W” on the schedule, as he put it. (Although he said he could tell even back in 2020, the Les Miles era, that quarterback Jalon Daniels “was a dude.”)

Now, Graham is one of the most experienced players on the Jayhawks’ revamped defense, having transferred in following one season at Utah State.

“You could tell it’s just completely different,” he said of KU. “I never thought in a million years I would be at Kansas University for football. Just to see that is incredible.”

Graham started 10 of the 12 games he played for OU during that 2021 season, his second year in the program, but his career didn’t continue on a linear upward trajectory. In 2022, under a new coaching staff, the Sooners converted him to wide receiver midway through the season.

He said that experience helps him now that he’s returned to playing corner in the years since, “seeing splits, mannerisms, certain break points at the top of the route, that kind of stuff for sure.”

“I try to tell the other guys, ‘Hey man, I’ve been a receiver, so I kind of know they’re trying to set this up to do this, or they’re trying to do this to do that,'” he said.

After missing the entire 2023 season due to injury, Graham made the move to USU and started nine of 12 games for the Aggies. He was an All-Mountain West honorable mention after recording 42 tackles, two interceptions and three forced fumbles.

When he entered the portal following the season, he found KU quite an appealing option — not only because he had grown up a KU men’s basketball fan, but because he was impressed by the high standard to which the program holds its players — “I love the town of Lawrence, and I love my teammates and I love the standard.”

“Talking X’s and O’s with coach (Brandon) Shelby and then coach (D.K.) McDonald, it was a no-brainer,” he added.

He may be one of KU’s most pivotal acquisitions of the offseason because with Cobee Bryant and Mello Dotson having graduated, the Jayhawks don’t have anyone else more experienced at cornerback than Jalen Todd, a true sophomore who played 296 snaps last season, according to Pro Football Focus.

“You can tell he’s played a lot of football,” Shelby, the defensive backs coach, said of Graham. “He has good football IQ, and he’s played a lot of snaps, and you’ll see that when he plays. He takes coaching well, and a lot of times when you’re kind of a guy who comes in from the portal it takes you a while to kind of learn the room, see where I can kind of fit in … but as they kind of get around our family, they start to see that they’re a great fit for us.”

Graham has provided insights that his younger teammates have found useful. Redshirt freshman Austin Alexander said Graham has helped him learn “what to look for in the offense when everybody’s lining up.”

“I’ve never been a guy to keep the wisdom that I’ve learned over the years to myself,” Graham said. “I stress to myself and stress to other dudes to try to speak game to those dudes, point out stuff that I’ve seen in my experience, so a mistake that I made in the past, try to tell them ‘This is the way to do it,’ or ‘Try this certain technique because it’s helped me.'”

Much like fellow defensive back transfer Lyrik Rawls, a safety out of Oklahoma State, Graham knows what to expect this season after years playing in the Big 12 Conference.

“They love to throw the ball,” he said. “I know I’m going to get plenty of action, which is what I signed up for and what I’m excited about. The refs are a little touchy with that handkerchief sometimes, but that’s Big 12 ball and it’s some of the most exciting football in the country, so you can’t complain with it. Glad to be back home.”