CSU football's Ellison Hubbard tests career in sports broadcasting with 9News

When practice, weightlifting, film sessions and team meetings can consume an entire day, it can be hard to remember that a life after football exists. 

But life as a college football player can come to a halt at any time, said Ellison Hubbard, starting junior defensive lineman at Colorado State. 

"Sometimes you look at people getting injured and injuries, and you’re like, ‘Man, that could happen to me any day,'" Hubbard said. "So in your head you’re like, 'I’ve got to give my all to school and what you’re majoring in and just stay focused on Plan B and not worry about so much the football life. I can go down at any second, and then I am stuck.'"

Both Ellison's Plan A and his Plan B are football-focused. Should his Plan A to play in the NFL never materialize, Hubbard said he will take a different position in front of the camera.

To test his Plan B as a sports broadcaster and analyst, Hubbard recently took a trip to 9News in Denver, where he spent the day with the station's sports crew for a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a sports broadcaster. 

"I didn’t know what to expect at first when I went down there, but they were all welcoming," he said of the TV station's sports team. "I learned a lot from them, and when they told me I was a natural, I was like, 'OK, this is something I can work on and do this.'"

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After starting his time at CSU as a business major, Hubbard decided he wanted to be in a more hands-on communication role when he was directed to journalism. 

"People told me talking is my thing, you know, sitting behind cameras," he said. "So I thought, ‘OK, I’ll give it a try.’"

Hubbard asked his academic coordinator if he could do some work with broadcasting and was connected with RamVision, the university's internal sports marketing video team, through CSU's student-athlete summer career experience program.

The program was started in 2012 with the goal of offering student-athletes real experience in their designated fields while staying in Fort Collins for the summer. Since the program began, 117 student-athletes have participated. 

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Hubbard said he connected with Reno Boyd, a former 9News sports reporter and current video production coordinator with RamVision, and set up a time to visit the station. 

He spent his day on the sports desk and behind a camera as well as trying his hand at the production side of sports broadcasting. 

"Afterwards, we were taking pictures and I was like, ‘That is something I would really like.’ Gave it a thumbs up, took the drive home smiling, actually," he said. 

Remembering that there's a future after football is no small task, Hubbard said. As he works to remind himself to strike that balance, Hubbard said he also works to remind others on the team. 

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"Some of them come in here and focus on football and I tell them, ‘You can’t do that because if you’re ineligible, you’re not going to be able to play,’" Hubbard said. "I try to lift them up and tell them, ‘When you get your football done, make sure you get your school done, and make sure you balance them out and not try to lift one higher than the other because while you also came here to play football, you also came here to get your degree.’"

That message is championed by the program's coaches, said Manny Jones, CSU junior defensive end. 

"Our coaches say 'get our education,' because at the end of the day, football is going to end at some point in time, you just don’t know when," Jones said. "As long as you get that degree and have a solid Plan B with that degree, there is really nothing else that they can do much more for us."

For Hubbard, both Plan A and Plan B keep him connected to the sport he has played since he was a child.  But for now, Plan A and its associated goals are at the forefront, ahead of the 2019 season. 

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Before working to earn a shot at the NFL, Hubbard said he hopes to make the All-American team and First-Team Mountain West. 

"(Football) was something I grew up playing, but it is also a sport I love. If I go to the League, I would take that, but I have a Plan B going that I’ve been working on," Hubbard said. "Playing football is something I love to do, not just something to hold me in school, it’s something to keep me going," he said. 

Meredith Spelbring is a multimedia reporting intern for the Coloradoan. Follow her on Twitter @mere0415.