McGriff was born in Gainesville, Florida in 1976. He attended P.K. Yonge High School in Gainesville, where he was a standout high school football player for the P.K. Yonge Blue Wave. McGriff was born into a family of prominent University of Florida alumni. His father, Lee McGriff, was a walk-on for the Florida Gators football team who became a first-team All-Southeastern Conference wide receiver, and later, an assistant coach for the Gators. His grandfather, Jack McGriff, was a member of the Florida Gators track and field team, and became the principal of the university's laboratory school, P. K. Yonge Developmental Research School. His father's cousin, Perry McGriff, was a split end for the Gators in 1958 and 1959, and later became a state representative. Perry's son, Mark McGriff, was a tight end for the Gators from 1984 to 1988.
College career
McGriff accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he was a wide receiver for coach Steve Spurrier's Florida Gators football team from 1995 to 1998. He was a letterman on the Gators' SEC championship teams in 1995 and 1996. He was also a member of the Gators' first national championship team in 1996, which defeated the Florida State Seminoles 52–20 in the Sugar Bowl to win the Bowl Alliance national championship. McGriff had seventy receptions as a senior in 1998, including thirteen catches in a 222-yard performance versus the South Carolina Gamecocks. He finished his final college season with ten touchdowns and an SEC single-season record of 1,357 yards receiving, and was a first-team All-SEC selection and a third-team All-American. McGriff graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in exercise and sport sciences in 2004.
Professional career
McGriff was chosen in the third round of the 1999 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos, and played for the Broncos for three seasons from to. After three years with the Broncos, he was released in October 2001. He also had a short stint with the Atlanta Falcons. He also played in the Arena Football League, including three seasons with the Orlando Predators from 2003 to 2005, where he won AFL Rookie of the Year honors in 2003, and part of one season for the Nashville Kats in 2005. He compiled 158 receptions for 2,290 yards and forty-five touchdowns in Arena Football League play.
