Chuba Hubbard

Chuba Hubbard Heisman Trophy Odds & Analysis For 2020 Season

Written by on May 21, 2020

Chuba Hubbard had the second-best season by a running back in Oklahoma State history last year. Who had the best? Barry Sanders, and he won a Heisman. Chuba Hubbard do that this year? Here are two props available to wager at Mybookie on Hubbard’s Heisman Trophy chances and Oklahoma State’s 2020 college football season – assuming there is one – and an overview.

Chuba Hubbard Heisman Trophy Odds & Analysis For 2020 Season

No player from Canada has ever won the Heisman Trophy, but if Oklahoma State’s Hubbard puts up numbers like he did last year, he just might be the first in 2020.

Hubbard attended Bev Facey Community High School in Sherwood Park (suburb of Edmonton), Alberta, where he totaled 6,880 yards on 458 attempts with 82 touchdowns over three seasons. He was considered a three-star recruit out of high school but the No. 1 overall player from Alberta. Hubbard also was a high school track star.

“Really, Oklahoma State is the right place,” Hubbard said when committing there. “It just felt like the right place and the coaches are great. I really get along with the running backs coach – coach (Marcus) Arroyo. I know that I can do everything in my dreams there, to play football and run track.

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 took over as OSU’s primary running fairly late in the regular season when No. 1 tailback Justice Hill was lost to injury. In his four games as the featured back (at No. 6 Oklahoma, vs. No. 7 West Virginia, at TCU and vs. No. 23 Missouri in the Liberty Bowl), Hubbard averaged 106.3 rushing yards per contest and 5.4 yards per carry.

His nine total touchdowns scored during the entirety of the season were the most for a Cowboy freshman during the Mike Gundy era (2005-present) and the most for any OSU freshman since Donovan Woods had 10 in 2004. Hubbard is one of five finalists for the Cornish Trophy presented to the top Canadian student-athlete in NCAA football.

Last year with Hill gone, Hubbard blew up as the Cowboys finished 8-5 – they lost to Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl. Hubbard rushed for 2,094 yards and 21 touchdowns, finishing as a unanimous All-American, the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, a finalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award and one of three national finalists for the Doak Walker Award presented to the nation’s top running back (Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor won that). He was eighth in the Heisman voting.

He was the FBS leader in rushing yards, rushing yards per game, 200-yard rushing games and all-purpose yards per game. He tied for third in the FBS and first among all players from Power Five conferences in rushing touchdowns. Hubbard led the Big 12 in both points scored and total touchdowns. His rushing yards total was third in Big 12 history and second in school history, trailing only Barry Sanders’ Heisman Trophy season of 1988.

Hubbard led the nation with 15 rushes of 30 yards or longer, nine rushes of 40 yards or longer, seven rushes of 50 yards or longer, five rushes of 60 yards or longer, three rushes of 70 yards or longer, two rushes of 80 yards or longer and one rush of 90 yards or longer. Hubbard had the largest single-game rushing total for any Power Five Conference player in 2019 when he went for 296 yards against Kansas State. He also was the first running back to go over 200 yards in a game against TCU in Gary Patterson’s 19 years as head coach.

Hubbard won the Jon Cornish Trophy as the top college football player from Canada. He beat out fellow finalists Notre Dame wide receiver Chase Claypool of British Columbia, Oklahoma defensive lineman Neville Gallimore, Oklahoma State linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga, and Ohio quarterback Nathan Rourke. Rourke had won the award the last two seasons.

Hubbard surprised many by not declaring for the NFL Draft. ESPN’s Mel Kiper ranked Hubbard as the No. 5 draft-eligible running back for 2020. Hubbard is looking to follow in the footsteps of fellow running backs and OSU alums Thurman Thomas and Sanders, who made their names in college before going on to Hall of Fame pro careers. In addition, the school’s last two starting running backs, Chris Carson and Justice Hill, were both drafted to the NFL.