Chuba Hubbard traveled a long road to OSU and success
Chuba Hubbard is big on visualization. In the hours before a football game, he will close his eyes and picture himself in various situations. Kickoff returns. Running plays. Passing plays. He will think of what could happen and how he might respond. “That helps me a lot,” he said. “It kind of calms my nerves so when I’m in the game, I know what to do. “I’ve pictured this.” Something else he pictured — playing a significant role at Oklahoma State. The redshirt freshman tailback did just that last week in the upset of Texas, piling up 111 all-purpose yards, playing much of the game alongside Justice Hill and giving the Longhorns a different look. Selling out to stop Hill became a dangerous hedge because of Hubbard’s speed and skill. To get to the point where he could be a major cog, Hubbard had to come a long way. To be exact, 1,718 miles. Hubbard is from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and if that sounds far away, it’s even farther than that. Places like Calgary and Banff and Medicine Hat are more than three hours south, darn near tropical compared to Edmonton. When Hubbard flies home, he feels lucky if his only connection is through Denver. “You’re definitely getting two flights,” he said, laughing. “There’s no one shot.” But the road to relevancy was about more than geography for Hubbard. Football is different in Canada. High schools like Hubbard’s play Canadian rules. Bigger field. Twelve players per side. Motion at the snap. Defensive players lined up no closer
than a yard from the line of scrimmage.
Major-college recruiters from the states believed Hubbard could play; he’s so fast he might sprint for Canada in the Olympics one day. Scholarship offers came from a who’s who of college football. Alabama. Georgia. Oklahoma. Miami. Auburn. Oregon.
But when he got to OSU, he had to adjust to the differences. The game itself was different, of course, but so was the competition. Hockey is the biggest youth sport in Canada — “I tried it a couple times,” Hubbard said, “but I can’t stop very good” — so even though he played for a top prep program at Bev Facey Community High in the Edmonton suburb of Sherwood Park, he wasn’t regularly facing opponents with the size or the speed that prep players from American high schools often see.
While J.D. King played as a true freshman last season, Hubbard did not.
“Going into the season ... I was like, ‘Yeah, I can play,’” Hubbard said. “Now that I look back at it, I think I’m really fortunate that I didn’t.”
Hubbard traveled with the team the last half of the season as an emergency back-up. He was never needed, though.
While he bulked up from 180 pounds to 207 pounds, Hubbard’s biggest changes came on the field. He had to adjust to the speed of the game and fulfill the expectations of the position, learning everything from blocking to route running to waiting on blockers.
“He is maturing and getting some experience and reps and showing signs that he is ready to be productive at this level,” Cowboy coach Mike Gundy said.
Cowboy receiver Tylan Wallace, who was in the 2017 recruiting class with Hubbard, said, “With the skill set that he had, I knew he was going to be able to do that. It was only just a matter of time.”
Chuba Hubbard felt the same way. He long ago visualized himself having the kind of impact that everyone saw against Texas.
“I like picturing where I’m gonna be,” he said.
How he goes may go a long ways toward determining how these Cowboys do.