Chuba Hubbard was phenomenal in 2019, but there is still room for growth
When it comes to the Oklahoma State football program and producing running backs, they do a pretty solid job. The first, that just about everyone knows is Barry Sanders, arguably the greatest back to ever grace the turf. The second guy was drafted just one year before Sanders — Thurman Thomas — and if not for Sanders he may be the Cowboys running back that gets all the shine. Fast forward 30 years and Oklahoma State could have their next future star in the NFL at the running back position.
If it hadn’t been for Joe Burrow’s historic season with the LSU Tigers, it may have been Chuba Hubbard’s name that rang through as the player who arose out of nowhere. Hubbard redshirted his first year at Oklahoma State, his RS Freshman year he was able to receive some carries, but the bulk of the load went to Justice Hill — now a running back for the Baltimore Ravens. Similar to Burrow, Hubbard finished the 2018-19 season off strongly averaging 106.3 yards-per-game (ypg) in the final 4 games of the season as opposed to his 35 ypg in the 9 games prior.
Again, alike Burrow, Hubbard lit the 2019-20 season on fire. He came out in his first appearance against Oregon State and put up 221 rushing yards on 26 carries. From then on, teams couldn’t stop him; he only recorded one game under 100 rushing yards and that was against McNeese, and he only had 8 carries. He also found the end zone in all but two games against West Virginia and Texas A&M. Once he gets his hands on the ball, watch-out, because he’s ready for take-off.