From Kentucky to Australia to the NFL? Small-school star tries different road to pros.
Centre College is one of the nation’s top schools for study-abroad programs. Colonels football star Jaylon Hibbs took that to heart upon graduating after the 2018 season.
Hibbs, a Louisville native who played at St. Xavier High School, spent the last six months in Australia with the UNSW Raiders, the oldest American football club in that country. He’s back stateside for an opportunity he believes could lead to a pro football contract: Hibbs is participating in this weekend’s revival of the Hula Bowl, a college all-star game for seniors and recent graduates that originally ran from 1946-2008. He’s one of about 100 players from the U.S., Australia and Japan who will participate in the week’s festivities in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Training down under was the idea of former Centre teammate Tanner Young, a fellow Kentuckian who played for Christian Academy of Louisville. He had a connection with the Raiders and put Hibbs in touch with head coach Andrew Brundu and offensive coordinator Mark Medrano.
“It was a great opportunity that I couldn’t pass up,” Hibbs told the Herald-Leader in a phone interview this week.
Hibbs finished his senior season in 2018 with 1,238 yards and 13 touchdowns on 60 receptions — an average if 20.6 yards per catch — and recorded six games of 100-plus yards that year (including a school-record setting 221-yard effort against Millsaps in a 49-13 rout). The Colonels finished 10-2, were co-champs of the Southern Athletic Conference and played in the NCAA Division III postseason.
Team and individual success helped lead to some conversations with NFL and Canadian Football League teams, but Hibbs wasn’t deemed quick enough to cut it. During a CFL tryout last May he ran a 4.61 and says, “I knew from that point I could definitely do better than that.”
He was right to bet on himself: Hibbs earned his Hula Bowl invitation during a tryout in which he ran times of 4.49 (laser) and 4.54 (hand). He worked with Roger Fabri, who trains Olympic hopefuls, National Rugby League players and has held clinics for several NFL teams here in the States.
“Getting that consistent 40 time in the low 4.5s, high 4.4s was really important for me,” said the 6-foot-1 Hibbs. “I’m excited to show that off this week in Hawaii.”
American in Australia
Eighty-five percent of Centre College students go abroad at least once during their time at the Danville private school. Hibbs was among them — during college he studied, worked or played football in five different countries — so adjusting to life outside of the U.S. was second nature.
“The value of lessons learned abroad is unparalleled,” Hibbs said. “ ... Just being able to adapt in new environments and learn to live in new countries really helped me out and set me up for good things while I was in Australia.”
Professional and college football are the most popular sports in America, but American football — or “gridiron” — isn’t as well-regarded with the Aussies as Australian-rules football (“footy”) and rugby. Knowledge of the game that we might take for granted isn’t as widespread, either.
Hibbs and Young, therefore, became assistant coaches over the course of the season for their own team, and took on major instructional roles with the club’s “Colts” team, a group of 16-18 year-olds, most of whom had no or little exposure to the game prior to their involvement with the Raiders.
“Here in the States, you’re used to players knowing at least a little bit about the sport but there we had to break it down to positional starts, where to align your feet, where to put your hands as a receiver, just things of that nature,” Hibbs said. “It was really cool breaking it down, and as we got throughout the season, we expanded it out and added on. It helped me grow as a person, just being able to help those guys out.”
Hibbs’ teammates and rivals ranged from 18-year-olds to, in a few cases, guys in their 50s (the oldest active player in the NFL is Adam Vinatieri, a 47-year-old place-kicker).
“They’re essentially playing for the love of the game, which was really cool for me to see,” Hibbs said.
Defying odds
There are 2,016 positions available across the 32 NFL teams: 1,696 on active rosters, 320 as practice-squad players. Entering the 2019 season, 11 of those players — 0.5 percent — hailed from Division III schools. Only eight of them — 0.4 percent — were on active rosters.
Hibbs recognizes how significant just having an opportunity to compete in front of scouts will be this week. A big performance in the game would be icing; how he performs in practice and in 1-on-1 drills in Honolulu “is vital,” he said, and the chance to network with fellow players and coaches will be indispensable.
He’s eager to show what he can do, not only as an individual, but for non-Division I prospects everywhere.
“Yes, I’m a Division III player, but I can compete,” Hibbs said. “That’s one thing that I’ve had to prove countless times throughout my career at St. X and Centre. At this point, I want to compete at the next level.”
Hula Bowl
What: College football all-star game for seniors and recent graduates.
When: 10:30 p.m. EST Sunday
Where: Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii
TV: CBS Sports Network
This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 7:23 AM.
