K-State football: Hard-running John Hubert's style belies his size

MANHATTAN — There was a time when John Hubert — all 5 feet, 7 inches of him — was considered too big to be on a football field.

He was living in Waco, Texas back then, playing running back for Midway High School's junior varsity. He was a sophomore with more than enough talent to be on varsity, but he had just transferred into the school. By rule, he had to wait a year before moving up.

Still, opposing teams wanted an explanation.

"That was our best year on JV," said Midway assistant coach David Petroff. "You just handed him the ball and no one could tackle him. Parents would ask us after games, 'Why isn't that kid on varsity?' We tried to explain he was still just a sophomore and he was playing against kids his own age. But he was a man amongst boys."

Today, Hubert hears the opposite. While going up against defenders at the major-college level, he looks downright puny. Even after taking the starting running back role, and rushing for 166 yards and a touchdown in last week's win at Miami, skeptics remain.

It all goes back to his running style. Unlike most small ballcarriers, he doesn't rely on speed or elusiveness. He plays like a fullback.

"I'm a downhill, physical back." Hubert said. "I'm shifty, but I don't really like running to the outside. I like running between the tackles."

That strategy isn't supposed to work. There are running backs that stand 10 inches taller and 70 pounds heavier that don't like initiating contact and fighting for yards up the middle. But here's Hubert, a 185-pounder with average speed, doing well at a Big 12 school.

How does he do it? Once again, that's an answer you have to go back to high school to find.

After Hubert spent his mandatory season with the JV, he was instantly promoted to varsity running back. Many had already labeled him the program's best player.

As a junior he earned that respect by rushing for 1,747 yards and 22 touchdowns on his way to being named team MVP.

Coaches knew they had a special player, but they didn't learn his full potential until Midway was in a tight game against Longview. They had relied on Hubert all season, but never as a workhorse runner. Midway was good at jumping out to big leads, and he was rarely needed in the fourth quarter.

When they leaned on him with the game on the line, the results were surprising.

"We discovered the more you gave him the ball. the stronger he got," Petroff said. "You wouldn't think that, because he's not a real big kid, but I remember we gave him the ball close to 40 times that game, and he just kept getting stronger and stronger as the game went on. That's the character that he has. It showed his heart."

Several years later, he reeled off a pair of 47-yard runs in the second half at Miami.

More than anything, that's what impressed K-State coach Bill Snyder.

"Numbers don't always tell you the true story," Snyder said. "... We just liked the way he played. Production is one thing, but it's how you achieve the production that's really important."

When his junior season was over, coaches informed Hubert he had a chance to take his production to unthinkable heights. They thought he had an outside shot of breaking Waco's single-season rushing record set by Hubert's idol, current NFL running back LaDainian Tomlinson.

Hubert rushed for an astounding 2,853 yards and 41 touchdowns, shattering Tomlinson's record by more than 300 yards.

His teammates organized a celebration, which came with a phone call Hubert will never forget.

"LaDainian called him to say congratulations," Petroff said. "But it was kind of funny, because John didn't believe it was him. He thought it was a prank call, just a joke. It wasn't until about halfway through that he got nervous and started acting real polite."

When the phone call ended, Hubert became even more driven.

"Ever since then, he's been my role model," Hubert said. "I've watched him every game since he was with the Chargers to the Jets."

If he wanted to follow Tomlinson's path, he knew what he had to do. His stats made him one of the most recognizable running backs in Texas, but the recruiters who weren't scared away by his size were by all the C-minuses on his transcript.

"I was supposed to go to a juco because my grades were so bad," Hubert said.

Still, he had interest from a handful of colleges. Louisiana Tech, Colorado State and North Texas wanted him, while Idaho State and seemingly every junior college around offered a scholarship. All the while, K-State said it would take him if he could become eligible.

Playing in the Big 12 was a dream of his, so he pushed himself in the classroom as a senior. As the year ended, he learned he would qualify academically.

That's when he got another unexpected call. This time it was Baylor's coaching staff. They wanted him, too.

Staying home for college was an intriguing option, but he felt a stronger connection with Snyder.

"Kansas State was the only school that stuck with me throughout the whole situation," Hubert said. "So when I got my GPA up, they offered me a scholarship and I took it right on the spot."

A little more than two years later, Hubert ranks sixth in the Big 12 with 286 rushing yards on 44 attempts, and will start for K-State against his hometown college.

It will be a big moment for him. He will have family watching from the stands, and plenty of friends watching on TV in Waco.

Baylor coach Art Briles is left thinking the same thing as everyone else who doubted Hubert: What could have been?

"He was just an outstanding running back in high school," Briles said of Hubert this week. "... He's been a very productive player all his career, and what he did last week in Miami was not anything that surprised us. We know he's a very tough, good back who is going to gain a lot of yards."

Hartman honored — Tysyn Hartman, a Kansas State senior safety, has been named a semifinalist for the 2011 William V. Campbell Trophy. Hartman is one of 127 candidates for the trophy. His candidacy marks the third-straight year a Wildcat has been up for the award, following Jeron Mastrud in 2009 and Corey Adams last year.

The Campbell Trophy is presented to the player with the best combination of academics, community service and on-field performance, each year. It has been nicknamed the "Academic Heisman Trophy."

This story was originally published September 30, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "K-State football: Hard-running John Hubert's style belies his size."