Ohio State Football: Safety turned to defensive end moving on to the NFL
Quite a journey for this Ohio State football player.
In 50 years of following Ohio State football, one of the more interesting players I have followed was a high school safety who grew into becoming an outstanding defensive end. Now that player, Sam Hubbard, has decided to enter the NFL draft.
Hubbard decided to forego his senior season and turn pro, taking to Twitter today to announce his decision.
Hubbard was a 220 pound All-Ohio safety for Cincinnati Moeller when he committed to the Ohio State football program as a senior. Nobody was quite certain what position he would play for the Buckeyes, only that he had to be on the field because he was so talented.
In his weekly call-in show during the 2014 season, Urban Meyer would often mention he was thinking of pulling the red-shirt off Hubbard because he was performing so well in practice. And at multiple positions.
The Ohio State coaches were trying to pull Hubbard to their position groups, as a linebacker, tight end or defensive end. Fortunately for Larry Johnson, Hubbard packed on weight and stayed on the defensive line, and the rest is history.
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I saw how talented Hubbard was while watching him play in the Ohio Division I State Championship Game in 2013. After reading about the big safety, that game was “Must see TV” for me. It didn’t take long to understand who the best player on the field was, Hubbard looked like a man playing among boys.
Two things stood out to me that day. The first was when Hubbard was standing over a ball carrier who was lying on the ground after he made an open field tackle. Hubbard never moved an inch but the guy with the ball sure did.
The second was when he raced across the field from his safety position and jumped over a teammate to break up a pass in the corner of the endzone. I couldn’t believe how athletic Hubbard was for a big guy.
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Now, after an outstanding career for the Buckeyes he is moving on and I wish him only the best. I just hope the storylines of Hubbard’s NFL career are as much fun to follow as the ones from the time he roamed the secondary for Cincinnati Moeller until his outstanding performance in the Cotton Bowl vs. USC.