Memphis Is New to Cortez Braham Jr. But His Quarterback Isn’t

The Memphis wide receiver room had been an area of concern for the Tigers during the spring until Nevada transfer wide receiver Cortez Braham Jr. announced his commitment to the Tigers at the end of July.

Braham, who totaled 724 yards and 4 touchdowns for the Wolfpack in 2024, enters his seventh year of college football.

Memphis is new to Braham, but one thing feels familiar: his quarterback, Brendon Lewis.

“We played together in Nevada, and we were very successful there.” Braham said, “I feel like we just do the same thing here and help this program win.”

Lewis, who was named the Tigers’ starter near the onset of fall camp, shares Braham’s excitement as he is reunited with his top receiver.

“He has a lot of experience, so he knows he’s looking at certain defensive coverages, seeing where the holes are.”

In addition to his football IQ, Lewis raves about Braham’s route running.

“He’s really fast and runs really smooth routes. It’s good to have a guy out there, another guy, who can run the whole route tree and make big-time plays.”

The relationship the pair built in Reno goes beyond the gridiron. Braham, with eyes lit up in excitement, calls Lewis his “brother”.

“Man, BLew (Brendon Lewis) a dog. He not going to back down from nobody. He’ll stand 10-toes and I’ll do the same for him.”

In May, Braham sued the NCAA, asserting his right to a seventh year of eligibility, as he had only spent three seasons at the FBS level prior to his current one with Memphis.

Once his injunction cleared, interest grew quickly, and power-conference offers poured in. For Braham, though, his decision came down to relationships.

“Silverfield and coach Smith really stuck out to me. They had been recruiting me for a long time. Since junior college.” Braham said, “I had built that relationship.”

Although the class of 2019 high school graduate has played a great deal of football, the winning culture at Memphis is new.

“I haven’t been part of many winning teams.” Braham said, “The standard they have here for winning, working hard, family, and being all in. They really mean what they say.”

Braham has only been in Memphis for two weeks, but worked his way onto Memphis’ initial depth chart ahead of the Tigers’ Saturday matchup against Chattanooga. 

For Braham, it’s simple. He came to Memphis to win, and he believes this team can go all the way.

“I’m very versatile, you can put me on the outside, inside, I’m going to do whatever I can to help this team win,” Braham said. “There’s no ceiling to this team. We’re going to go all the way to win the conference championship.