Why Panthers are big believers that Chuba Hubbard can thrive while McCaffrey heals
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Jeff Nixon still remembers watching from the coaches box at Oklahoma State when Chuba Hubbard rushed for 171 yards and two touchdowns against the Baylor Bears.
Hubbard was then a sophomore running back at Oklahoma State, while Nixon was the co-offensive coordinator under Matt Rhule at Baylor.
Baylor won that game, but most folks watching could see that Hubbard was a special player.
“He was a player that when he got in open space, he was able to make a lot of explosive plays and take the ball the distance,” Nixon, now the Panthers’ running backs coach, told the Observer.
That was part of the reason Rhule and the Panthers selected him in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL draft, two years after that game. It’s also part of the reason the Panthers coaching staff has faith he can be successful Sunday at 1 p.m., when the Panthers (3-0) face the Dallas Cowboys (2-1).
Hubbard will make his first career start for the Panthers while star running back Christian McCaffrey, who suffered a hamstring strain in the Panthers’ Week 3 win over the Texans, remains out. He’ll split carries will backup Royce Freeman.
It’s a moment Hubbard has been dreaming of his entire life. But when asked what this opportunity was like for him Thursday, Hubbard seems relaxed — or perhaps unfazed.
He chuckles at the question.
“It’s football,” Hubbard said. “Obviously I’m blessed to be in this position. All glory to God. But it’s football.”
Perfecting his craft
Hubbard grew up in Sherwood Park, Alberta in Canada, where he ran track and played Canadian football. Some of the rules were slightly different.
In Canadian football, the field and end zones are slightly bigger. So is the football. There are 12 players on a field on offense and defense, instead of 11.
In Canadian football, there are three downs compared to four in American football. There are currently 24 Canadian players on NFL rosters in 2021, according to Sports Illustrated.
That was an adjustment for Hubbard when moving to the United States and joining Oklahoma State. But he became a star in his second season, leading the country in rushing yards with 2,094 yards rushing in 2019 and 21 touchdowns.
“He really had good games against us all three years,” Nixon said. “When the opportunity came this year to get a chance to draft him and get him a chance to be a Carolina Panther, we were excited about him, and we know what he was capable of doing on the football field.”
Panthers coach Matt Rhule even joked that his wife, Julie, texted him 10 minutes before drafting Hubbard to say “please take Chuba Hubbard.”
Hubbard is quiet, but he comes off as confident. He showed that in 2020, when he spoke out against Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy for wearing an OAN T-shirt, symbolizing support for a far right-wing cable news network. It garnered international attention.
Fellow rookie Tommy Tremble described Hubbard a “great dude” and “a hard worker.”
“Every time we came to do our business, he was 100% serious on making sure he perfects his craft,” Tremble told the Observer. “I love that about him on the field, because he’s a dude who likes to work, likes to outwork everybody else.”
Nixon said the same. He said Hubbard’s GPS numbers, which measure his work load in practice and each players explosive movements, are always high.
“The kid just works and doesn’t get tired,” Nixon said.
Needing to step up
The Carolina Panthers entered the 2021 season with big plans for McCaffrey, who missed 13 games in 2020 with three different injuries. After losing backup Mike Davis in free agency, the Panthers drafted Hubbard with hopes he could eventully help lessen the load for McCaffrey, who when healthy is ranked at the top of the league in touches per game.
Through two games, McCaffrey accounted for 41% of the Panthers’ offense. He had 59 touches in just two games.
But Sunday’s game against the Cowboys will be the 14th game McCaffrey has missed in two seasons. In those two years, he’s missed more games than he has played (six).
Last year, the Panthers used Davis in a relief role. While Davis was solid, the Panthers didn’t quite have the talent yet to overcome McCaffrey’s loss and what he brought. In the three games McCaffrey played in 2020, the Panthers averaged 416.6 yards per game and 26 points. In the 13 games without him, Carolina averaged 334 yards and 20.9 points.
They finished 5-11 in Rhule’s first season as the head coach.
However, when you ask players and the coaching staff about playing Sunday without McCaffrey, they don’t seem worried. They say they are a better team this year, and having had the experience of losing McCaffrey last year, they know how to adjust.
Offensive tackle Cameron Erving famously said last week, “We’re not the Carolina Christian McCaffreys.”
“Obviously you can’t replace the production of Christian McCaffrey, but those other players, they’ve been waiting for their opportunity, and who knows what they can do when given their opportunity,” Rhule said Wednesday. “I don’t think it’s fair to Sam and to the offensive line to kind of go away from what we’ve been doing. We’ve been working on it for a long time. ... At the end of the day, our running backs are going to carry the football and they have to get open and they have to win and catch the ball in coverage.”
It helps that Hubbard got the majority of the carries in the preseason. He had seven carries for 80 yards against the Colts in the Panthers’ first preseason game. His best play came early against Indianapolis. Hubbard was running an inside zone, when the line of scrimmage closed. He instead bounced it outside, broke two tackles and gained 59 yards.
He also shouldered the load in the second half against the Texans last week, in what was a 7-6 game at halftime. Hubbard averaged 4.7 yards per carry, and finished with 52 yards on the ground and 27 yards receiving.
For Hubbard, his biggest issues have been two things: He hasn’t caught the ball particularly well, and he has slipped a few times as he’s tried to cut out of the backfield.
And he has to be better in protection, an area McCaffrey has done well at this year.
But Rhule was happy with how Hubbard improved in the second half, when he knew he was going to have to take on a bigger role. He had 46 of his 52 yards in the fourth quarter against the Texans. He was crucial to the Panthers’ win as he helped close out the game.
“I always believe everybody gets one opportunity and one chance,” Hubbard said. “It’s your job to step up and be ready. Obviously football injuries happen all the time. I needed to be a professional and step up.”
The Cowboys have the sixth-best rushing defense in the league through three games, giving up 70.3 yards rushing per game. They also haven’t allowed a rushing touchdown.
The key for Hubbard on Sunday — according to Rhule, Nixon, offensive coordinator Joe Brady and teammates — is not trying to be McCaffrey. Hubbard has his own set of skills that he brings to the Panthers.
“Chuba, when he makes a cut, he’s really good,” Erving said. “And when he’s decisive, he’s really good. Like anybody else in this league, if you think too much, you don’t react and you don’t play as fast as you would like to.”
“Things are going to look different. (He and McCaffrey) are two different players.”
Hubbard said his teammates have been supportive of him and that has given him confidence.
“Someone came up to me today and was pretty much like, ‘We believe in you. We know you got it. Just do you,’ ” Hubbard said. “I really appreciate that stuff, that my teammates believe in me to get the job done, and I believe in myself.
“So it’ll be good.”
This story was originally published October 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Why Panthers are big believers that Chuba Hubbard can thrive while McCaffrey heals."
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