Teammates, media and fans voice support for Chuba Hubbard declaring for NFL Draft amid criticism

Mike Gundy announced on his pregame radio show before Oklahoma State’s tilt with Baylor that Chuba Hubbard will not play for the rest of the season as he prepares for the NFL Draft.

Somehow, this decision was met by criticism from some, and Hubbard’s teammates have been quick to his defense on Twitter. Hubbard’s return was a privilege for OSU and the star running back battled injuries all season as some fans publicly wondered if he wanted to be there. Allow the rest of the team to provide some clarity — fellow Canada native Amen Ogbongbemiga in particular had a lot to say.

Ogbongbemiga mentioning the pain killers Hubbard had to take just to play injured is especially noteworthy. Hubbard could have tapped out a long time ago and saved his body for the NFL, but he continually gutted out a painful ankle injury in games against Kansas State and Oklahoma in particular where Hubbard was noticeably not himself.

Kolby Harvell-Peel highlighted that in particular.

For anyone needing a better picture: Sacrificing an NFL career and millions of dollars to attempt to help an Oklahoma State squad win an Alamo Bowl (at best!!) is not worth it.

Marshall Scott of Pistols Firing Blog decided to write an entire piece on it... give it a read if you feel inclined, it’s a good one.

Brendon Evers emphasized what Harvell-Peel had to say and one fan put some of the criticism in question into perspective. I’m not going to include any of the negative posts about Hubbard in here but check under some of Marshall Scott’s tweets if you’re looking for them. Most of it involved fans commenting about how Hubbard “quit on the team” which is plainly not true.

Punter Tom Hutton detailed what a week looked like for Hubbard.

Hubbard finishes his career at Oklahoma State with 3,459 rushing yards and 36 total touchdowns. He led the FBS in rushing yards in 2019 and was a finalist for the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back. Hubbard struggled to get going this season and battled through an ankle injury for most of it, finishing with 625 yards on the ground, six total touchdowns, and a career-low 4.7 yards-per-carry.

The Canadian speedster is one of the best running backs in the history of the school that has had plenty of outstanding running backs. Hubbard became the fifth Oklahoma State player since 1970 to receive Heisman votes, finishing eighth in voting last season. Three of the previous four OSU players to receive Heisman votes before Hubbard in 2019 were running backs — Terry Miller (1976, 1977), Thurman Thomas (1985, 1987), and Barry Sanders (1988).

There’s not much else to say except... Good ride Cowboy, good ride.