Panthers' Chuba Hubbard continues to hold off competition as starting running back

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Almost since the day Chuba Hubbard arrived in Carolina, it seems as if the Panthers have been trying to find a better alternative at running back.

And the more Hubbard plays, the more he continues to prove he has what it takes to be a productive, every-down back.

The Canadian-born Hubbard has been one of the league's top running backs this season despite playing on one of its worst teams. He is averaging more than 100 yards per game on the ground over the last four weeks and better than 6 yards per carry over the last five.

For a team that frequently has been forced to abandon the running game after falling behind — Carolina's 203 points allowed are the most in the league — limiting his opportunities, that's saying something.

Hubbard's 485 yards rushing rank third in the NFL behind Baltimore's Derrick Henry and San Francisco's Jordan Mason. His pass blocking has improved and so has his receiving ability. He has caught 22 of the 24 passes thrown his way this season for 93 yards and a touchdown.

“I pride myself on being a complete back," Hubbard said.

The 25-year-old Hubbard said he's motivated by the intrinsic need to support his family, his love of the game and the desire to go down as one of the best running backs in NFL history.

There have been obstacles along the way, but Hubbard continues to overcome them.

When Hubbard was drafted in the fourth round in 2021, Christian McCaffrey was Carolina's full-time starter. But Hubbard showed promise when McCaffrey was hampered by injuries, rushing for 612 yards and five touchdowns in 10 starts.

The following year McCaffrey was traded to San Francisco after seven games, but the Panthers turned to D'Onta Foreman as their lead back with Hubbard returning to a backup role.

Foreman would leave the next offseason via free agency, but rather than handing the reigns of the running game over to Hubbard, the Panthers signed Miles Sanders to a four-year, $24.5 million contract. It was the most lucrative multiyear deal for a free agent running back that offseason, and former coach Frank Reich quickly dubbed him the team's “every-down back.”

But Sanders' hold on the position didn't last long.

Hubbard replaced him as the starter six games into the 2023 season and ran for a career-best 902 yards and five TDs. He has held the starting job ever since, but questions still linger for how long.

The Panthers drafted Jonathan Brooks in the second round this year with an eye toward making him their go-to guy once he had recovered from a torn ACL.

Brooks practiced for the first time on Wednesday but said he still needs to develop some confidence in the knee before playing in games.

“Like my doctor said, my knee is healed. It's just the mental part of it now where you have to tell yourself it's healed and just go play fast," Brooks said.

Coach Dave Canales has been noncommittal about Brooks' role once he is ready to play.

Given Hubbard's history — and his 5.6 yards per carry average — there's little doubt he won't surrender the starting job without a fight.

If Hubbard has one thing going for him, it's that he seems to have impressed Canales. The first-year coach likes his quick-hitting, decisive running style, which he deemed “perfect” for his offensive scheme.

“He’s not afraid of the dirty 2- and 3-yard run, where you just kind of have to cram it up in there,” Canales said. “And then later on in the game, they start popping into 8s and 12s, and here comes a 25. Just the discipline and his willingness to really commit to the system.”

Said Hubbard: “I feel like the position gets overshadowed and people feel like anyone can do it. But to really know and understand certain runs, gaps, schemes, zones and power and all of these different things it takes patience.”

Canales considers Brooks more of a “home run threat” when he has the ball, so at some point the rookie will get his chance.

But for now Hubbard remains Carolina's starting running back heading into Week 7, where he'll face the Washington Commanders and six-time All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner on Sunday.

Wagner said stopping Hubbard will be a challenge for the NFL's 22nd-ranked run defense.

“I like the way he runs," Wagner said., "He tries to finish runs. He sees the holes really well. He’s going to be a tough task for us.”

AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.

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Carolina Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard (30) is tackled by Chicago Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon (6) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Carolina Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard (30) scores on a 38-yard touchdown run as Chicago Bears safety Kevin Byard III (31) defends during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Carolina Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard (30) celebrates his 38-yard touchdown run with Ikem Ekwonu (79) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Carolina Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard (30) runs the ball and is tackled by Atlanta Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss (55) in the first half of an NFL football game in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rusty Jones)

Carolina Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard (30) runs the ball against Atlanta Falcons safety Justin Simmons (31) in the first half of an NFL football game in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rusty Jones)

Carolina Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard (30) runs for a 38-yard touchdown against the Chicago Bears during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. (AP) — Surrounded by more than 100 former Republican officeholders and officials, Democrat Kamala Harris urged GOP voters on Wednesday to put “country first” and abandon Donald Trump.

The Democratic presidential candidate made her case to Republican voters that the patriotic choice was her party in next month's election because Trump is “unstable” and “unhinged" and would eviscerate democratic norms if given a second White House term.

“America must heed this warning," said Harris, speaking at a rally near where Gen. George Washington led hundreds of troops across the Delaware River to a major victory in the Revolutionary War.

Joined by the former lawmakers and government officials for a rally in the Philadelphia suburbs, Harris said, “Anyone who tramples on our democratic values as Donald Trump has, anyone who has called for the ‘termination’ of the Constitution of the United States as Donald Trump has, must never again stand behind the seal of the president of the United States."

The rally was part of Harris' effort to appeal to a swath of Republican voters in battleground states that she believes still can be swayed.

With 20 days to go, Harris is hoping to tear away any Republican or on-the-fence voter by warning that Trump is looking to govern with “unchecked power.” She has pledged to nominate a Republican to her Cabinet and create a bipartisan council to advise her on policy matters if elected.

Meanwhile, Trump addressed Latino voters in Miami, Florida. It's a group that historically has leaned Democratic but that Republicans have made inroads with.

Trump is walking a tightrope as he looks to woo Latino voters.

On Wednesday, he defended his call for mass deportation of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, even as he nodded to a need for immigrant labor during a town hall-style event on Univision, the nation's largest Spanish-language network.

“We want workers, and we want them to come in, but they have to come in legally, and they have to love our country,” the Republican presidential candidate said during the event, scheduled to air Wednesday evening. Trump was answering the question of Jorge Velásquez, a farm worker who said most people doing such jobs are undocumented and suggested, if they're deported, food prices will increase.

Trump then returned to his criticism of Harris for being a critical player in the Biden administration's that presided over an influx of migrants with criminal backgrounds.

The event featured pointed questions for Trump, about his wife Melania's support for abortion rights, noted in her new memoir, and about the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters who breached the building in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election results.

“Your own vice president doesn’t want to support you now," said Ramiro Gonzalez, of Tampa, Florida, a Republican who said he was no longer registered with the party but wanted to give Trump the chance to win him back. Gonzalez was referring to former Vice President Mike Pence, who has disavowed Trump in light of Jan. 6.

Trump's response: “Hundreds of thousands of people come to Washington. They didn’t come because of me. They came because of the election. They thought the election was a rigged election. That’s why they came."

“That was a day of love from the standpoint of the millions," Trump told Gonzalez.

Harris was in Bucks County, a vote-rich stretch of suburban Philadelphia where Democrats have held a narrow advantage in recent presidential elections. Her advisers believe she needs to improve her margins in Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs to win the state's 19 electoral votes.

Harris was joined for her rally by former Reps. Barbara Comstock of Virginia, Jim Greenwood of Pennsylvania, Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois as well as Republican officials from every administration going back to Ronald Reagan.

“No matter your party, no matter who you voted for last time, there is a place for you in this campaign,” Harris said. “The coalition we have built has room for everyone who is ready to turn the page on the chaos and instability of Donald Trump.”

Several of the GOP surrogates said that supporting a Democrat felt awkward but was necessary due to Trump's rejection of electoral norms and his support of the rioters who tried to stop the certification of his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

“You know, Donald Trump may be running as a Republican, but the truth is, he does not share those long held Republican values of supporting democracy, of standing for the rule of law, and a faithfulness to the Constitution as a Republican," Kinzinger said. “That saddens me.”

Harris tapped a couple, Pennsylvania farmers Bob and Kristina Lange who had previously backed Trump, to introduce her at the rally. Bob twice voted for Trump and Kristina backed him in 2016.

“Never in a million years did either of us think that we’d be standing here supporting a Democrat,” Kristina Lange said. “But we’ve had enough. We’ve had enough.”

Some of the rallygoers who have voted Republican in the past said they were looking for the party to rewind to its fiscal conservative roots.

“We need more Republicans to stand up and say, ‘This is not what our party is about, this is not what we are about,’” said Sarah Larson, 53, of East Rockhill Township, who last voted for a Republican presidential candidate in 2008 when John McCain was at the top of the ticket. “It’s not what we recognize anymore as Republican values - which is less government, more freedom - right now."

While in Pennsylvania, Harris conducted an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier in which the two sparred over immigration policy and her shifting policy positions over the years, among other things. A week after saying she couldn’t think of any move made by Biden that she would have done differently, Harris asserted that “My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency.”

Trump and Harris also campaigned in Pennsylvania Monday, when the Republican was in nearby Oaks while Harris was on the opposite end of the state in Erie County, among Pennsylvania's most closely divided counties over the past two presidential contests.

Harris' simplest path toward the 270-vote winning threshold in the Electoral College is by carrying a trio of northern battleground states, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Harris campaigned in Detroit Tuesday and planned to campaign in three Wisconsin cities Thursday.

Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Maryclaire Dale in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, contributed reporting.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at Washington Crossing Historic Park, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Washington Crossing, Pa. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris talks with former Rep. Jim Greenwood, R-Pa., before she speaks during a campaign event at Washington Crossing Historic Park, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Washington Crossing, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a Univision town hall, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a Univision town hall, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Doral, Fla., with Televisa's Enrique Acevedo. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., speaks before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris during a campaign event at Washington Crossing Historic Park, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Washington Crossing, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a Univision town hall, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at Washington Crossing Historic Park, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Washington Crossing, Pa. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris hugs a child after speaking during a campaign event at Washington Crossing Historic Park, in Washington Crossing, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Republicans who are supporting Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris stand on stage during a campaign event at Washington Crossing Historic Park, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Washington Crossing, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a Univision town hall, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at Washington Crossing Historic Park, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Washington Crossing, Pa. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

FILE - In this combination image, Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during a debate, Oct. 7, 2020, in Salt Lake City, left, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a debate, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/File)