Former K-State defensive end Wyatt Hubert enters NFL Draft with middle round hopes
Wyatt Hubert is the type of football player who NFL Draft experts can’t seem to agree on.
Depending on where you look on the Internet you can find a football prognosticator who thinks the former Kansas State defensive end will be selected on Friday (in rounds 2-3), another who thinks it will more likely happen for him on Saturday (in rounds 4-7) and yet another who thinks Hubert won’t get picked at all.
That could make for a stressful watch party this weekend in Hubert’s home town of Topeka, but he isn’t sweating the possibilities. After participating in the Senior Bowl, showing off for scouts at K-State’s pro day and having “serious conversations” with a dozen or so teams over the past few months he has his own expectations for the NFL Draft.
“They see me going anywhere in the third or the fourth rounds,” Hubert said in a phone interview. “So I’m expecting to go right in the middle of the draft. I’m praying for Friday night and the third round, but I won’t be upset if I have to wait until Saturday morning. I’m going to be happy no matter what. I am just going to be ready to get to work wherever I end up.”
Hubert seems like the most likely candidate to end K-State’s short drought at the NFL Draft. The Wildcats produced at least one selection in 26 consecutive drafts until that streak ended without a pick last year.
Professional scouts began noticing Hubert when he burst onto the scene as a redshirt freshman for K-State in 2018. He had 4.5 sacks and 35 tackles that season and backed that up with seven sacks and 33 tackles as a sophomore. Another 8.5 sacks and 27 tackles (in 10 games) last season were enough to convince Hubert that he was ready to leave college and turn his focus to the next level.
He wasn’t a heralded recruit coming out of Shawnee Heights High School, but he turned himself into a NFL prospect by working hard in the weight room and on the field as an edge rusher.
It was a long journey. But it felt like it went by quickly.
“This is a big chapter in my life that’s about to open up,” Hubert said. “I’m nervous. I’m a little bit anxious, too. I don’t know how I’m going to react when I get that phone call. It’s going to be one of the best feelings ever. I say that because I’ve always wanted to play in the NFL. It’s been a goal that I’ve been working for ever since I was in high school, and it’s been a dream of mine my whole life. It’s a rewarding feeling to know all the work I put in is finally going to pay off.”
Hubert will head to the professional ranks a tad lighter, or “more chiseled” as he likes to say, than he played at K-State. The 6-foot-3, 265-pound defender is down about five pounds from his days with the Wildcats and he says he gained some speed while working out for several weeks with other draft prospects in Pensacola, Florida.
That should help him at the next level, because odds are good he will play outside linebacker instead of defensive end next season. Though both positions require strong skills as a pass-rusher, linebacker also requires pass coverage and tackling in open space.
How will he transition to that new role? It’s a question that has created some mystery surrounding his NFL Draft stock.
Still, he is confident in his chances. Hubert says he will even watch Thursday’s first round “just in case” a team selects him earlier than expected. By Friday, he says family, friends and a few former teammates will be by his side watching all the picks.
He’s looking forward to a celebration.
“This whole process has gone really well for me,” Hubert said. “I definitely know I proved myself as a very smart football player with a high IQ and a high motor. I was productive in college and I’m working every day to translate that into the NFL.”
This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 1:58 PM with the headline "Former K-State defensive end Wyatt Hubert enters NFL Draft with middle round hopes."