Chuba Hubbard Named on Doak Walker Preseason Watch List

To no one’s surprise, the nation’s leading rusher from last season in on the initial Doak Walker Award watch list.

Chuba Hubbard joins 75 other college running backs on the list. Hubbard ran for 2,094 yards in 2019 en route to being a finalist for the award that Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor eventually won.

Oklahoma’s Kennedy Brooks, Texas’ Keaontay Ingram, Iowa State’s Breece Hall and Texas Tech’s SaRodorick Thompson join Hubbard as Big 12 backs on the list.

Hubbard’s biggest competition for the award this season seem to be Clemson’s Travis Etienne and Alabama’s Najee Harris, both of whom unsurprisingly made the watch list.

Hubbard was a unanimous All-American and the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year in 2019, his redshirt sophomore season. He eclipsed 100 rushing yards in every outing apart from the McNeese game, where he had only eight carries.

On four occasions, Hubbard ran for more than 200 yards, including 296 against Kansas State. His 21 rushing touchdowns last season was tied with Taylor for tops among Power Five backs. Here are his full game-by-game rushing totals from last season.

Opponent	Carries	Yards	Touchdowns
Oregon State	26	221	3
McNeese	8	44	1
Tulsa	32	256	3
Texas	37	121	2
Kansas State	25	296	1
Texas Tech	34	156	3
Baylor	32	171	2
Iowa State	22	116	1
TCU	20	223	2
Kansas	23	122	2
West Virginia	26	106	0
Oklahoma	24	104	1
Texas A&M	19	158	0

 

Despite rushing for more yards and the same amount of touchdowns, Taylor still edged out Hubbard to win the 2019 Doak Walker, his second straight. However, Taylor is gone to the Indianapolis Colts, guaranteeing a new winner in 2020.

The Doak Walker has been awarded annually since 1990. No Oklahoma State back has ever won the award. The last Big 12 running back to win with award was Texas’ D’Onta Foreman in 2016.