Kilgore’s Jonathan Hubbard signs with the Miami Dolphins
Published 8:00 pm Monday, April 27, 2020
- Jonathan Hubbard
Former Kilgore High School standout Jonathan Hubbard, who played for a state championship in high school and started 27 games during a solid career at Northwestern State University, has signed a free agent contract with the Miami Dolphins.
Hubbard, a 2015 Kilgore graduate, added to a long list of East Texas players making news over the weekend — joining drafted players Broderick Washington of Longview, Denzel Mims of Daingerfield, Brandon Jones of Nacogdoches and Jeff Gladney of New Boston along with free agent signees JaMycal Hasty of Longview and Blake Lynch of Gilmer.
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“Jonathan is an exceptional young man. He was a great player here for us, and we all thought he had a chance to go to college, develop his body and turn into a really good college player,” Kilgore head football coach and athletic director Mike Wood said. “We thought if things went right, he had the size and ability to play on Sundays, and now he’s getting a chance to make that happen.”
Hubbard was a key blocker as a junior for a Kilgore team that finished 14-1 in 2013, losing to district rival Carthage in the Class 3A Division I state title game.
He graduated in 2015, and redshirted that season at Northwestern State.
As a freshman at Northwestern State, he appeared in two games. He made six starts for the Demons as a sophomore in 2017, and made 10 starts as a junior — recording at least 15 knockdowns in five games and recording double digit knockdowns nine times with a season-high of 19 against Lamar.
As a senior this past season, Hubbard (6-4, 292), started 11 of 12 games and the Demons’ offensive line allowed a sack on just 3.9 percent of its 517 pass attempts with him in the lineup.
“We’re extremely proud of Jonathan,” Wood said. “Every kid that plays football aspires to play in the NFL. It happens for such a small percentage of kids, but this shows if you have the body and the ability and you take care of business, there is always a chance. Jonathan graduated in December. He took care of the academic part as well as football. He has an opportunity to play professional football, but if that doesn’t work out, he has a college degree.”
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The Dolphins finished 5-11 in 2019 and had 11 overall picks in this year’s NFL Draft. Two of those 11 picks were used on offensive linemen.