Chuba Robert-Shamar Hubbard (; born June 11, 1999) is a Canadian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Oklahoma State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Stillwater. ...

, where he was a

unanimous All-American The College Football All-America Team is an honorific college football all-star team compiled after each NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) season to recognize that season's most outstanding performers at their respective positions. ...

, named the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

Offensive Player of the Year and won the Jon Cornish Trophy in 2019. Hubbard was drafted by the Panthers in the fourth round of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

Early years

Growing up in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and later moving to

Sherwood Park Sherwood Park is a large hamlet in Alberta, Canada within Strathcona County that is recognized as an urban service area. It is located adjacent to the City of Edmonton's eastern boundary, generally south of Highway 16 (Yellowhead Trail), ...

, Hubbard attended Bev Facey Community High School, where he played

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

. During his three years, he rushed for 6,880 yards on 458 attempts with 82

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

. He committed to

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

to play college football in the United States.

College career

After redshirting his first year at Oklahoma State in 2017, Hubbard played in 13 games in 2018 and had 740 rushing yards on 124 carries with seven touchdowns. He returned as Oklahoma State's starting running back in 2019 and had a stellar year rushing for 2,094 yards on 328 carries and 21 touchdowns. Despite speculation that he would declare for the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The d ...

after this season, Hubbard announced that he would return to school for his redshirt junior year. He was awarded the Jon Cornish Trophy as the top Canadian in NCAA football for the season. In June 2020, Hubbard threatened to boycott the football team and any affiliation with the university after a photo surfaced showing Oklahoma State head coach

Mike Gundy Michael Ray Gundy (born August 12, 1967) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Oklahoma State University. Gundy played college football at Oklahoma State, where he played quarterback from 1986 to 1989. ...

wearing a T-shirt promoting the

One America News Network One America News Network (OANN), also known as One America News (OAN), is a far-right, pro-Trump cable news channel founded by Robert Herring Sr. and owned by Herring Networks, Inc., that launched on July 4, 2013. The network is headquartere ...

, a

far right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

news channel. Gundy subsequently issued an apology, saying he was disgusted by OAN's coverage of the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

movement. Hubbard eventually apologized for the way he handled the situation

Professional career

Hubbard was selected by the

in the fourth round (126th overall) of the

. He was also selected by the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

in the fifth round (43rd overall) of the

2021 CFL Draft The 2021 CFL National Draft was a selection of National players by Canadian Football League teams that took place at May 4, 2021 at 7:00 pm ET and was broadcast on TSN and RDS. 54 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadia ...

before signing a four-year contract, worth $4.2 million, with the Panthers on May 6, 2021. Hubbard made his NFL debut in Week 1 of the 2021 season against the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

. In Week 5, against the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

, he had 24 carries for 101 rushing yards in the 21–18 loss. He finished the 2021 season with 172 carries for 612 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns to go along with 25 receptions for 174 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown in 17 games and ten starts. In Week 16 of the 2022 season, Hubbard had 12 carries for 125 rushing yards in a 37–23 victory over the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. He finished the 2022 season with 95 carries for 466 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns to go along with 14 receptions for 171 receiving yards in 15 games and two starts.

References

External links

Carolina Panthers bioOklahoma State Cowboys bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbard, Chuba 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Edmonton American football running backs Black Canadian players of American football Oklahoma State Cowboys football players All-American college football players Carolina Panthers players Jon Cornish Trophy winners Gridiron football people from Alberta