Chuba Hubbard says ‘Jonathan Taylor Deserved That Award’

STILLWATER — For much of the season, Chuba Hubbard has been compared to Jonathan Taylor and J.K. Dobbins.

Last week, Hubbard met the two running backs for the first time after a season of outside noise comparing the trio’s yards, touches and yards per carry.

“It’s crazy,” Hubbard said. “You see those guys making plays all over the TV and you see it everywhere, and then you actually meet them. They were actually real nice guys and real humble and well put together. It was definitely a good experience.”

In the end, the Doak Walker voters deemed Wisconsin tailback Jonathan Taylor worthy of the nation’s best running back, doing so for the second straight season.

There for a while, it wasn’t only running backs Hubbard was getting comparisons to, though. Many wanted Hubbard to be in New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony Saturday.

Hubbard’s NCAA-best 1,936 rushing yards put him in the conversation, but in the end he wasn’t invited, as quarterbacks Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts and Justin Fields went with defensive end Chase Young.

Burrow ended up lifting the trophy, the fourth straight quarterback to do so. Hubbard finished behind Taylor and Dobbins in the voting down in eighth.

To say the least, OSU Twitter wasn’t pleased with either awards’ voters, but Hubbard, as humble as always, wasn’t overly dramatic about not getting the hardware.

“I appreciate everything my teammates and all the fans and everything everyone’s done for me, but I don’t think I got snubbed or anything,” Hubbard said. “It is what it is. There’s a lot of great players out there. Jonathan Taylor deserved that award. Joe Burrow, I believe, 100 percent deserved the Heisman, and everyone that was in there deserved to be there. I appreciate everyone supporting me and having my back, though.”