Dylan Laube is turning into extra well-known by the month. Metaphorically talking, he’s a really gifted hurdler.
The game he’s gaining extra of a nationwide popularity in is soccer – hurdling adversity each step of the best way. Those that comply with FCS faculty soccer have heard this story time and time once more: Athlete isn’t extremely recruited out of highschool, athlete blossoms whereas on the FCS college he selected, athlete turns heads when the uncommon alternative arises to impress others.
It looks like gamers from the SEC or Large Ten get 10 strikes earlier than they’re “out,” whereas FCS prospects appear to get one strike – if that.
Whereas Laube was an FCS All-American on the College of New Hampshire as a jack-of-all-trades menace to attain a landing, it’s what he did on the prestigious Reese’s Senior Bowl just a few weeks in the past, and his participation on this week’s NFL Mix which have elevated his title much more.
See, getting consideration within the nationwide highlight for soccer while you play at a college tucked up within the Granite State and the scale of UNH is a hurdle unto itself. It’s not straightforward – though it hasn’t prevented Laube from being a prospect for the 2024 NFL Draft.
In New Hampshire’s lone sport in opposition to FBS opponent Central Michigan final season, the 5-foot-10, 208-pound Laube caught 80-yard and 71-yard touchdowns, rushed for one more, and wrapped with 295 receiving yards (an FCS single-game document) on 12 catches, 30 dashing yards and 46 return yards on particular groups. He was the most important motive UNH got here inside three factors of knocking off a college with 20-plus extra scholarships out there.
“After that sport, there have been a few (professional) scouts who have been within the workplace subsequent to our assembly room,” mentioned Laube, who went on to be a Stats Carry out FCS First Workforce All-American for the second consecutive season. “I walked by and noticed they have been watching the Central Michigan sport. I assume it is smart. It was the most important stage sport we performed, it was a loopy sport and I feel for me it confirmed my versatility.
“I used to be capable of present robust to fade routes, whip routes, corners, display passes, even a bubble.”
As a junior, Laube produced 136 whole offensive yards and a landing in opposition to the lone FBS workforce on UNH’s schedule, Western Michigan. As a redshirt freshman in 2019, he caught an 86-yard landing in opposition to FIU, additionally an FBS program.
The larger the problem, the extra he has stepped up – that’s what makes the potential for doing one thing large within the NFL look so intriguing.
Laube additionally has hurdled the frustration of stuttering. Sure, stuttering. He received’t deliver it up, nevertheless it’s noticeable. If somebody brings it up, he doesn’t dodge or conceal from it – he faces it head on.
“I’ve had this challenge all my life, and it sucks typically,” Laube mentioned. “I wish to say some stuff, for extra to return out, however that is me. It’s who I’m … I hate public talking, but when I’ve to do a presentation, I get via it. Once we have been freshmen, we needed to sing ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ by Bon Jovi. On the time, I feel everybody on the workforce knew, however no one’s bothered by it. I like them for that.”
Laube is an offensive weapon in some ways. UNH listed him as a working again, however he spent a lot of the 2023 season as a slot receiver, and he’s a deft kick and punt returner. He ranked fourth within the FCS in all-purpose yards per sport in 2021, and first in each 2022 and ’23.
Most mock NFL Draft lists have him as a day-three choose, that means he’d be wherever from the fourth to the seventh spherical. His inventory has an opportunity to rise after the NFL Mix, professional days and the interview stage of spring evaluations.
Whereas a participant being drafted out of New Hampshire is uncommon, it’s hardly unprecedented.
If an NFL workforce drafts Laube, he’d be the third pick of UNH since 2000, and the primary since defensive lineman Jared Smith was taken by the Seattle Seahawks within the seventh spherical in 2013. Corey Graham, a security, was taken within the fifth spherical in 2007 and performed till 2018, racking up 707 profession tackles and Tremendous Bowl rings with the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles. Linebacker Steve Doig is the very best choose ever taken from UNH, going to the Detroit Lions within the third spherical in 1982.
Dylan Laube and his household really feel it’s going to occur for the New Hampshire standout when the 2024 NFL Draft takes place from April 25-27 in Detroit.
“Me and my household are the one individuals who really consider in me,” he mentioned. “That is one thing we knew can be a protracted course of, however such an thrilling course of. I at all times noticed myself as an NFL participant. After I went to New Hampshire, I didn’t simply see myself on the scout workforce, however being within the rotation of taking part in. And it has turned out that I’ve change into an all-conference and All-American kind of participant.
“It’s not one thing that simply clicked. It’s been a protracted course of, a protracted, winding journey with accidents, arduous work, coaching – each with in-season and offseason stuff. A number of issues have paved my manner via that journey.”
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