Drayton was born on March 11, 1971, in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended Allegheny College, where he played running back on the football team. As a sophomore, Drayton helped lead the Gators to the 1990 NCAA Division III national championship, and ended his career as the top rusher in Division III history. He also competed in track and field, winning numerous NCAC titles, and earned all-conference honors in both sports. Drayton is married to Monique Fuller and has two children.
Career
Drayton held running back coaching positions with the Eastern Michigan Eagles, Penn Quakers, Villanova Wildcats, and Bowling Green Falcons, before being hired by the Green Bay Packers as Assistant Offensive Quality Control and Special Teams Coach from 2001–2003. Following his time with the Packers he worked as a running backs coach with the Mississippi State Bulldogs, Florida Gators, Tennessee Volunteers, and Syracuse Orange. He returned to the Gators for the 2010 campaign. In January 2011, Drayton was hired as a wide receivers coach by the Ohio State Buckeyes. Following the 2011 season, he was reassigned to the role of running backs coach, under new head coachUrban Meyer. He also served as assistant head coach in 2013 and 2014. Under Drayton's tutelage, Buckeye running back Carlos Hyde recorded 1,521 yards and 15 touchdowns, while also recording the eighth-highest yardage per game in the nation with 126.8. In 2014, Drayton guided Ezekiel Elliott to 1,878 yards, third-most in the country and the second-most in Ohio State history. In February 2015, Drayton was hired as a running backs coach for the Chicago Bears. In Drayton's first year, the running back trio of Matt Forte, Jeremy Langford and Ka'Deem Carey ended the 2015 season sixth in rushing attempts with 469 and 11th in total rushing yards with 1,851. The group also ranked 11th in the league in rushing yards per game with 115.7. Forte led the three in attempts, yards and yards per attempt despite not playing in three due to injury, while Langford had the most touchdowns with six. Playing in eleven games, Carey scored twice on 43 attempts. A year later, with Drayton, rookie Jordan Howard recorded 1,313 rushing yards in 2016, the second-highest in the NFL behind Elliott. Drayton returned to the college ranks in 2017, joining the Texas Longhorns.
