Sam Rayburn enters his second season as an intern on head football coach Todd Cooley's staff. Rayburn assists with coaching the defensive line under coach Chris West.
Rayburn comes to Delta State from North Carolina, where he served as an assist linebackers coach at Leesville Road High School.Â
Rayburn has ties to the Delta State football program, as his grandfather played for the Statesmen from 1963-1965. He played tight end and defensive end under then head coach Horace McCool and accumulated a 21-7 record on the field that included an 8-1 mark in his senior season. He grew up in Knoxville, Tenn. and was named Mr. Football in the state of Tennessee. Rayburn's grandmother also graduated from Delta State, in 1967, and his grandparent still live in Cleveland.Â
In his own playing career, Rayburn lettered in football, basketball and track at Jackson Academy and was an All-State honoree in his senior football season in 2014. He was also named the Defensive MVP in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools All-Star Game.
Rayburn graduated from the University of Mississippi in the spring of 2019 with a bachelor's degree in sports administration and a minor in general business.
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