Latest / Scouting the League / 2027 Draft Scouting - Bray Hubbard - Alabama DS
Transcript
- Rodrik David: It's Tuesday, June thirtieth, the last day of June, and we flipped the calendar to the back half of twenty twenty six. Wow. Today we stay on the 2027 Draft Scouting Series with our first safety of the podcast, Bray Hubbard of the Alabama Crimson Tide, a solid football player, but how high does he go? I talked all about that today. Yesterday we talked about Blake Frazier, offensive tackle from Michigan, who may be a surprise entry to this draft, at least at this point, a surprise good player. And yes, the video portion is. is now up on YouTube as I move my hosting to Riverside working out a few kinks but we are up and running so hopefully you head over get that one checked out with that video portion get me back on track I thank you for letting me know that hey that video portion's not out there Kyle I appreciate it tomorrow I check back in with Neil and Neil and I sit down with longtime scout now owner of And GM of Ascend Football, DeWan Daniels from his time in New England to Las Vegas. Everything before and after. That's gonna be a fun one. Make sure you head over, leave your thoughts and comments on everything I am doing here on Scouting the League. Players you want to hear about, let me know. Guests you want us to try to get on, maybe an area of football that we have not covered. Let me know at right stepadv on Twitter is the best place to do that. You of course can head over to my website, rsafootball.com. Send me an email on there. While you're there, make sure you check about everything I'm doing, my background, my history, and everything that I have up there. If you're there and you're a scout or an aspiring scout, make sure you check out thescoutingcommunity.com for resources across the scouting industry while teams do a Decent job in some areas. There are certainly giant holes that I am trying to help step in and fill along with everybody in the scouting community. So make sure you check that out. Make sure you check out our partners over at blue maca.com as well. That is blue maca.com. Use code scouting20 at checkout to get a little discount on that order of insoles that will upgrade every pair of shoes you have, whether that is for art support, whether you want that non-slip insole for training. Whether you need some extra support for that turf toe blue mocha.com has the answer for you. Use that code Scouting20. Let them know we sent you every pair of shoes you have. If you're training, they should have that blue mock insole. You don't want just a stock insole, they just stick that thing in there. Don't even think about it. It's all about the shoe look, but that blue mocha insole will upgrade. So check it out over at blue maca.com. So today to Bray Hubbard and our first safety of the group wears jersey number 18. That left. Shoulder harness that we will see as we get his film rolling here today. again, Bray Hubbard, fourth year player that has grown into his role for the Alabama Crimson Tides, special teams in 2023, part-time starter in 2024 to an every down player in 2025. He's gonna be a major part of that Alabama defense, getting back to where they want to be under head coach Calen DeBoer. Yes. He is the token white safety, which for some means he's gonna have to overcome that moniker, but he's a good football player regardless. So don't look at the jersey, don't scout the helmet, don't look at the skin color, just watch the traits. In 2025, 79 total tackles, four interceptions, another three force fumbles. Love that ball production for these safeties that are moving all over in college, playing around the ball. It transcends, it translates to the NFL ball production matters. It's going to get you bumped. For safeties, when we start thinking about those traits, we're going to be looking for, hey, we're going to look at the big things. Coverage, we want to see it in man. We want to see it in zone. We want to see your ability. Can you cover in man? Are you an underneath over the top? So your coverage, and then you really break it down from there. What's your range on the back end? Again, if you're going to be a deep middle, deep path, do you have red line range, number range? Are you getting to the sideline where we go and run support? What kind of run support player? Are you a box thumper? Are you a space tackler? What can you do? Ball skills, we've already mentioned that. That versatility, that's going to be one we hit with Bray Hubbard. So let's start with coverage. What kind of coverage player? Again, this is a good solid player. Again, solid is going to fall in that sufficient range at above average to good range. This is a good football player that's got a lot of solid, sufficient to good level traits. Again, you talk about Man ability. I think it's good. Again, he's got good awareness, good understanding. Again, he's got good fluid hips. He's got good speed, good burst. Again, same thing as we get into that zone. Again, good awareness of where to fit in and underneath routes, how to get over the top, how to take throws away. I believe he's got enough size at about 6'2, 215 or so to play versus most tight ends. Probably gonna get beat by the bigger guys. And then it's kind of the same story. He's going to be a solid nickel type defender and man coverage. Again, good nickel or good slot wide receivers, good guys that get lined up. Again, he's going to struggle to be an every down man coverage player. But again, he's going to be able to answer the bell. He's going to get lined up there. Again, you're going to scheme him. You're going to do some things to help him out to put him in the right spot. So again, overall coverage, I think this is a sufficient player when it comes to his man and his zone coverage. But again, you start talking range again, sufficient to good as a deep middle player. I think he probably has numbers range, in my opinion. Not quite red line. Again, that's going to be one of the things I'm really looking at in the 26. Can he get to the red line? Red line is going to be that good level. He does not have sideline to sideline range from that deep middle spot, which again somatically probably fits in a two-high defense better than a single high defense. Going to fit cover three, of course. But again, this is going to be a player that has sufficient level range, run support. That's where this player is good. He is a good run defender, takes good angles, has good burst, good close. He has good awareness on how to attack tackles to make sure he is making the tackles. Sure, tackler. Again, those angles, that awareness. There are some times I would love to see a little more burst and close, trust it to go make it now. Ends up in a little bit of a back hip chase type of technique when he ends up in that tackle, but he's going to make the tackle. Does it translate to the NFL where he's going to be able to just continue to run through that play, get that play going, make the tackle at the point? let's see where there we go get our film going again. As we talk about that ball skills. Again, we talked about the ball skills with his force fumbles, with his ability to play, make interceptions, do those kinds of things. he is going to have that ability, the ball skills, ball awareness, everything he does is going to be at that good to very good level. That ball production, very good. again, this is gonna be a guy you stick him around the ball, you get him close to the ball, close to where the action is at. You are going to like this player. He is going to show up and consistently make plays for you. So again, his ball production, ball skills, certainly where you like him. And then again, the versatility goes back to the versatility. And this is where different teams are going to like or dislike, move them up or move them down. There's going to be teams, hey, we love this safety versatility. We can play him in the box, nickel, play him at corner, use him in some roll situations where some teams are gonna be like, hey, we want a guy that can do this. Forget about the rest. Again, that's going to be one of the big conversations with him. I think this is a versatile safety. We see him here getting into the box, closing, making tackles. That is what he can do. His versatility is going to be one of his great traits that allows him to make it in the NFL, to find a role, and I think to fit as a starter in the NFL. So as we get to the board here, let's jump over to our beautiful board created by Kyle Morgan. Let's see where I put him again. We're going to go ahead and, you know, drop our evaluation in here, get some notes when we get to that profile. We're going to go and drop him. I'm going to put him in as a solid starter. This is that solid starter grade, that third round, which again, I think this player probably ends up maybe around higher, maybe a round lower, depending on his 2026 fall season. But again, he is a solid star. This guy plays in the NFL. He finds his way on the field. He's going to be my number one player on the stack board just because he is. That first player I've done. We'll look at Marcus Neal of Penn State here at some point. But again, Bray Hubbard, I think he's a third-round draft pick. I think he's a solid star. This is a guy you like him. Maybe you don't love him. It's going to come down to that character, that mental, that leadership. Time will tell on that. Scouts in the building getting their work done. That is going to really push this player up, maybe keep him where he's at. Or if there are again questions with that shoulder harness, maybe he's not everything you want off the field. Cause him to slide a little bit. But again, that is where I'm putting him. Third round grade for Bray Hubbard of Alabama. But what do you think? Head over at Right Step ADV. Let me let me know what you think. Too high, too low, where do you want him? Let me know. We'll get your comments and get you out there. Let him know. make sure you tune in tomorrow. Dewan Daniels joins the show. Don't miss that one. Let me know while you're over there on Twitter who you want to hear next as we get into our vacation time this summer. Enjoy your summer. Enjoy the fourth. Stay safe and while you're doing it, make sure you keep scouting.