Jay Graham, an assistant coach, discusses his choice to leave Nick Saban’s Alabama coaching team.

After barely two months on the job, Jay Graham decided to depart Nick Saban’s Alabama coaching team this week.

Graham’s resignation was unexpected given that Alabama had just begun its spring training. But now that the assistant coach has given his reasoning, it makes more sense why he decided to quit the Crimson Tide.

Graham, a former Tennessee running back, most recently served as the Volunteers’ running backs coach. However, he only departed the university two months ago to take a position coaching tight ends and special teams for Alabama.

Graham believes he needs time away from the game “to seek professional help immediately” in order to deal with his mental health after leaving Saban’s school.

This is the statement that Graham released on Wednesday:

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How the transfer portal and Alabama athletes are impacted by Nick Saban’s departure

The unexpected resignation of Nick Saban has complicated Alabama’s coaching situation and its capacity to maintain its current roster.

At the conclusion of every season, coaching changes in college football invariably lead to some confusion and realignment, but none of the decisions made will have as big of an influence now, or perhaps in the future, as the shocking announcement that seven-time national champion and NCAA record holder Nick Saban is retiring from the game.

The departure of the man dubbed the greatest college football coach in history will not only require Alabama to put together a search party for the ages to find a replacement, but it will also directly impact the Crimson Tide’s roster moving forward.

This is due to an NCAA regulation that permits players whose head coach left the team to add their names to the portal, but only for a maximum of 30 days following the coach’s departure. Since Saban announced his retirement on January 10, his players have until February 9 to add their names to the national database.

Additionally, even though the SEC forbids intra-conference transfers after the national portal window closes on January 2, the conference permits an exception when a school switches coaches.

If a significant number of students left the Alabama program, other universities would be quick to take advantage.

Saban set an almost unrivaled bar for recruiting success, and his rosters are stacked with players that any other program would be licking its chops to sign.

They can all theoretically be transferred at this point.

This covers all athletes who committed to Alabama as members of its recruiting class for 2024. The transfer portal is also accessible to students who are enrolled at the school and have previously signed their National Letter of Intent.