The next great dual-threat NFL RB: Dylan Laube

A lot of college RBs have skills and traits that help NFL teams project them to be solid pass-catchers at the next level. But very few have proved it in the manner that New Hampshire RB Dylan Laube did during his collegiate career. 

Laube began his college career in 2018 but was only a full-time offensive starter for his final two seasons. During his college career, he totaled 2,773 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns, And in the receiving game, he added 171 catches for 1,791 yards and 14 touchdowns. This is the most of any RB prospect in this class that is currently projected to be drafted. For comparison purposes, here is how Laube's numbers look next to other notable RB prospects with solid receiving production during their college careers. 

Michael Wiley, Arizona: 123 catches, 1,150 yards, 12 touchdowns (49 games, 24 starts) 
Tyrone Tracy Jr., Purdue: 113 catches, 1,201 yards, 5 touchdowns (63 games, 30 starts)
Dillon Johnson, Washington: 173 catches, 1,054 yards, 1 touchdown (49 games, 28 starts)
Blake Watson, Memphis: 113 catches, 928 yards, 6 touchdowns (49 games, 36 starts) 
Dylan Laube, New Hampshire:  171 catches, 1,791 yards, 14 touchdowns (46 games, 26 starts) 

But why stop there let's look at some of the top WRs in this stacked WR class that Laube's career numbers are better than. 

Ladd McConkey, Georgia: 119 catches, 1,687 yards, 14 touchdowns (39 games, 21 starts)
Adonai Mitchell, Texas: 93 catches, 1,405 yards, 18 touchdowns (35 games, 28 starts) 
Keon Coleman, Florida State: 115 catches, 1,506 yards, 19 touchdowns (34 games, 24 starts) 
Xavier Legette, South Carolina: 113 catches, 1,678 yards, 12 touchdowns (53 games, 32 starts) 

I had the privilege to speak one-on-one with Laube to discuss his time at New Hampshire, his draft process, and how his game will translate to the next level. 

To begin, I brought up the fact to Laube that he not only was New Hampshire's leading rusher last season, but he led the team in receiving yards and receptions on top of having both a punt and kickoff return for a touchdown. And even with all of that, he would, at times, go out and be an impactful special teams player. Which led me to my first question.

Q: It's not often that we see the best player on a team play a key role on special teams as well, tell me about why it was important for you to have so many roles at New Hampshire. 

Laube: "It all started with me being under-recruited and New Hampshire being my only offer, so I was far behind everyone from the jump, and with it not being super common to be a white running back, so I kinda had to find a way to make myself stand out. The way I got on the field initially was on special teams. My old head coach told the team that if you guys want to play, especially as freshmen, earn a role on the special team. So I was like, hey, I wanna play. I don't care if it's at running back, special team, even if it needs to be on defense, shoot like I don't care; I wanna play.

So I worked my way onto special teams my true freshman year I played in four games because that was the rule if you wanted to red shirt and then that next season as well as playing on special teams, I had earned a role as our third-down back. As the years went on, I earned more and more trust. My junior year was when I got that starting role as the main back, and even then, I was still the punt returner and kick returner; I played in the slot, and I also lined up on the outside. I tried to get on the kickoff team, but my coaches told me I needed to chill. Even today, I'll line up anywhere if it means playing this game. I still love playing on special teams, I just want to play football."

Q: At the Senior Bowl you got to run drills with both RBs and WRs was that a decision you made or something they asked you to do? 

Laube: "Before the senior bowl, I knew I needed to show myself as a running back and a receiver, so we decided for the first day I'd be purely a running back, show my ability there, run the rock, catch the ball, and just show myself as a running back. The second and third days, though, it was about starting to show myself as a receiver, so I talked to my RB coach, who was at the senior bowl at the time, if I could hop into some one-on-one reps with the receivers, he told me to go ahead so I got a couple of reps there and showed what I could do, I remember my first one on one rep I got to go up the seam for a deep ball, and I beat a corner for a touchdown. After my first catch, it was cool because Mike Tomlin was on the field, and he came up to me and dapped me up. I've always been a Steelers fan, so that was super cool. So yeah, it definitely was a decision that I made prior, and once again, I think that's my skill set. I'm a guy who can be a running back/receiver hybrid, so I want teams to see me doing both."

Q: Fast forward to the Scouting Combine; with you coming from a smaller school, getting that invite wasn't a guarantee by any means, so how did it feel when you saw that you had earned that opportunity? 

Laube: "There were only 28 backs in the whole country there, so that's 28 out of 1000 some running backs, so that's a super small percentage. Especially me coming from an FCS school, it was pretty cool seeing that invite come. I think there were three FCS running backs there, so it was kinda like a cool kind of squad of small school guys. It was cool getting to represent the FCS."

Q: You ended your day at the combine with a bang for sure, throwing up the DX suck its celebration, It even got a response from the Pat McAfee show. Was that a planned thing, or did it just happen in the spur of the moment? 

Laube: "So, number one, I did see Pat McAfee's response to it. That was awesome, and number two, it was not planned at all, actually. My friends the week before kept trying to convince me to do something crazy after my 40 or something. I told them I'd think about it. And then, during the combine, everyone was doing backflips and stuff to celebrate the day ends, and I was like, screw that man, I'm not gonna hit a freaking backflip; my agent would have screamed at me. Instead, I hit the crowd with the suck it celebration; I grew up a huge WWE fan, and Shawn Michael was my guy, so I had to give a little homage to them, but yeah, I mean, it was fully on the spot."

Q: In terms of your combine testing results, how did you feel about your performance as a whole?

Laube: "I mean, overall, I think if you ask anyone at the combine, they think that they could do better at every single drill. It's a super long week, and the day of drills is a long day; you're doing every single drill, and you're mentally drained from the entire week. I think I could do every single drill better, but at the same time, though, is it going to improve my stock if my shuttle improves from a 4.02 to a 3.99? Maybe, but I don't think it would make a huge difference. I know I ran a 4.54 40, but some teams had me at 4.48; one team even had me at a 4.46. As long as teams know I'm fast, I'm happy there. I wanted to showcase my shuttle and my L drill as my two main things because I'm a very shifty guy, and I ranked number one and number three on both those things, so I knew I was I knew I was in good hands there. And of course, the bench man, that's my favorite thing I hit 23 there my PR prior to that day was 22, so I set my new PR with 23, so I was pretty satisfied with my whole kind of testing there"

Q: I view you as the best pass catcher in this year's class, can you speak to that trait of your game specifically and how it might separate you from other players in this class? 

Laube: "I think my ability to be an efficient pass catcher sets me apart, but it's not just that it's my routes and the fact that I feel confident in my ability to beat anyone 1 on 1, whether it's a safety, a linebacker or a corner the spot is kind of what it's gonna set me apart in this class. I think my ability to go in empty, go in the slot, and even line up outside as a WR is so important, especially in today's game, where you have to be able to catch the ball. I think I've shown my dual-threat ability and versatility as a RB. And I think my special team ability is huge. Me being a return specialist return who can return both punts and kickoffs at a high level. I've shown that I'm willing and able to play on the kickoff team and make plays there. And on game day, there is only a limited amount of spots where people can dress, and If I'm effective in every role they ask me to play how can they not give me a helmet."

Q: At the Senior Bowl you were asked to give a player comp for yourself and you said Christian McCaffrey. At the time you shared that you hadn't told his brother Luke who was at the Senior Bowl as well that you felt that way. So my question is, have you spoken with Luke about that yet, and did he give you his thoughts on that comp.

Laube: "So the last day of the Senior Bowl as we were getting ready to leave, I was getting breakfast, and I saw Luke and his two parents there. I introduced myself to them, and they actually brought it up, saying that they saw in some interviews on social media that I had compared myself to their son Christian and acknowledged that I gave him a bunch of praise for how special of a player he is. They were super excited about that, and they were super happy about it, so I'm pretty sure the whole family knows now, so who knows, maybe Christian has a thought about it. If I ever run into him, I'll have to ask him"