Once I sat down in his office and he told me what his vision was and how he was going to do it, I wanted to be a part of it.' 'It wasn't really much of a decision,' Hubbard said of his recruitment, 'because it's coach Urban Meyer. Whereas Meyer was used to recruiting against the likes of Alabama, Michigan and even the Fighting Irish on the football field, he now found himself trying to sell a prospect on playing a different sport.īut like most battles he's taken part in on the recruiting trail, Meyer came out on top. There was just one problem: Hubbard was already committed to Notre Dame, where he planned to continue his career as an All-American lacrosse player. With their linebacker corps depleted, the position figured to be emphasized in the Buckeyes' 2014 class, where Hubbard could serve as a project as his body continued to fill out. He walked in with his leather jacket, and everybody was like, 'Oh my gosh, that's Urban Meyer.' I just didn't really think anything of it, then Coach Rodenberg called me over to say hello.'īut he still says of that fateful dodgeball game: 'I was going a little extra hard.'įrom there, Meyer and Coombs went to watch film of Hubbard and were wowed by the instincts of the 6'6', 225-pound safety who still possessed room to grow. Recalls Hubbard of his first encounter with Meyer: 'We were all just playing like a normal day of class. Just a big athlete and a nice-looking kid.' ' just happened to be in the gymnasium playing dodgeball. 'I was just asking about his guys,' Meyer recalled. While Hubbard wasn't yet being recruited-to play football, at least-Rodenberg, who was also Moeller's PE teacher, thought his star safety could be something special if he could be convinced to stick it out on the gridiron. It was just a routine check-in with longtime Cincinnati high school coach and current Ohio State cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs.īut before Meyer left the traditional Southwest Ohio prep power, Moeller head coach John Rodenberg had something he had to show the then-first-year Buckeyes head coach. He wasn't there to see any particular prospect. Meyer first met Hubbard during a recruiting visit to Cincinnati's Archbishop Moeller in 2012.

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