North Carolina State found a couple of defensive gems from Cobb County.
Four years later, Bradley Chubb, who played at Hillgrove High, and Justin Jones, who played at South Cobb High, are preparing for the NFL draft.
Chubb, a defensive end, is likely a top-five pick. Jones, a defensive tackle, is projected to be a fourth- or fifth-round pick and is being heavily scouted by the Falcons. Both participated at the recently completed NFL scouting combine in advance of the draft, which is set for April 26-28 in Arlington, Texas.
Quarterbacks in the ACC are happy that Chubb is gone. He was notorious for snatching the little towels that they tucked into their pants. He kept stealing Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant’s towel in a national televised game. He’s pilfered the towels from several others.
“It’s just something I do to get in people’s heads,” Chubb said. “I do it in lightheartedness. Then it came to the point where I saw it really bothered (Bryant). So if I see something bothers you, I’m just going to keep doing it. ... They ended up winning the game, but I got in his head a little bit.”
Chubb said he is not sure if he’ll keep snatching towels in the NFL.
“That’s his thing,” Jones said. “He gets in the quarterback’s head. It works, so I’m not complaining.”
NFL scouts like Chubb not for his towel-snatching prowess, but for his quarterback sacks. He had 10 sacks in each of his junior and senior seasons. He had 25 sacks over his career and is considered the top pass-rusher in the draft.
“Whoever has the ball in their hands, I’m running 50 yards down the field just to get that ball,” Chubb said. “I’m doing a lot of great things with the pass rushing, doing a lot of great things stopping the run. Had pretty good season, I would say. Just a guy who’s going to play with a relentless motor.”
Chubb, second cousin to Georgia running back Nick Chubb, likely won’t last past the third pick in the draft owned by the Colts. He’d like to go first overall.
“My confidence level is going to say I’m the best player,” Chubb said. “I feel like I put it on tape for four years. Good film. I feel like I’m the best player. I’m not going to say one person’s better than me.
“There are a lot of great players. Saquon Barkley put up ridiculous numbers. Josh Allen, Josh Rosen, all of the quarterbacks you’re hearing about. Lots of great players. I just feel like I’m up there at the top.”
Chubb, who’s 6-foot-4 and 289 pounds, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.65 seconds and lifted 225 pounds 24 times at the combine.
“I look at my edge-rush list and Chubb is a no-brainer in the top five,” NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said.
Chubb wasn’t recruited by Georgia, where his father Aaron played. He had offers from Georgia State, Duke, Iowa, Wake Forest, East Carolina and West Virginia. He was the classic late-bloomer. He was the 82nd-rated player in Georgia’s 2014 class by rivals.com and was the 49th-rated outside linebacker by ESPN.com.
“I think that it helped him getting as much as experience as he did,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said of Chubb staying four years at N.C. State. “He’s played now and he’s got experience. Sometimes having that extra year of experience can be a good thing.”
Chubb thought about entering the draft after his junior season.
“Generally, those guys who have stayed longer, especially at the defensive line spot, that extra year of experience can pay off,” Quinn said. “I know that it did for Vic (Beasley). There was talk that he would come out early. Just because you have the athletic numbers doesn’t mean that you don’t need the on-the-job training and experience. I think that helped him.”
Chubb is looking forward to chasing NFL quarterbacks.
“It impacts the game tremendously,” Chubb said. “If a team doesn’t have a quarterback, they don’t really have anything. My job is to get after one of the best players on the field, one of the highest-paid players on the field. It changes the dynamics of the game.”
“You see in the Super Bowl, sack-caused fumble ends the game. Take it back to
when the Broncos won, Von Miller just going crazy in that game. Super Bowl MVP of that game.”
Jones and Chubb were close friends and made a deal to attend the same college.
“I knew Bradley Chubb since I was in the sixth grade,” Jones said. “We went to the same school and so when we went to college it made sense to go to the same school. That’s how we ended up at State.”
Jones is also a late-bloomer. He was a reserve for two years before cracking the lineup as a junior.
“Toward the end, we got older and more mature,” Jones said. “We knew how to answer the questions that offenses presented. We knew formations and we knew how to adjust and things like that. The coaching style changed as we got much older.”
Jones, whom the Falcons interviewed at the Senior Bowl and the scouting combine, didn’t start playing until middle school. The NFL wasn’t even a dream when he first put on pads.
“I never really thought this far,” Jones said. “After my junior year I figured out that I might have an opportunity to play in the NFL. It was great to be (at the combine) with all of my defensive line mates, that’s pretty much unheard of.”
Jones wouldn’t mind getting selected by the Falcons, who are expecting to lose defensive tackle Dontari Poe in free agency.
“That would be cool,” Jones said. “My mom would be able to come see me play all of the time. That would be great. But, I’ll go with whoever takes me.”
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