BRADENTON, Fla. — Kevin Hubbard is all about character. Subsequently, the former New Smyrna Beach High School head coach was never a big fan of his football players “jibber jabbering” on the field.
Jaleel McRae was fully aware of that, and once told a teammate, “Man, you can talk junk. But if Coach Hubb say shut up, you better shut up.”
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When McRae flattened an opposing player in a game on special teams, though, he didn’t hold back. He walked up to his opponent, pressing against him chest-to-chest, facemask-to-facemask, and told him, “You better not come my way again.”
After he was finished mouthing off, McRae rolled off and, to his surprise, Hubbard was standing just 10 yards away. The two locked eyes, and McRae immediately grinned as wide as he could, saying, “My bad, coach.”
On the field, that’s just who McRae is. At 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, he’s aggressive, physical and tough. He loves to talk just about as much as he does hitting people.
“He’s a talker, but he’s easily reigned in,” Hubbard told The Athletic. “He listens. When you tell him to back off, he’ll back off … for about two or three plays, and then he’ll be back at it. But he’s a real aggressive player, plays with a chip on his shoulder, gets after it, wants to be the best that he can be and works hard.”
After committing to Florida State in April, the four-star player and No. 12-ranked outside linebacker in the class of 2019 will bring his aggression and hard-nosed attitude to Doak Campbell Stadium next year.
McRae grew up with five brothers, most of whom played football, making his route to playing almost predestined. And when he attended his first camp at N.C. State the summer after his eighth-grade year, he discovered he had a chance to play at college football’s highest level.
“I did my thing over there; I balled out,” McRae told The Athletic. “I was catching interceptions, I was doing everything the coaches asked me. The staff over at North Carolina State, they really liked me, and Dave Doeren brought me up into his office, and that’s when he offered me. Ever since then, I knew I could be a Division I athlete.”
Hubbard was a running back at N.C. State from 1996-97 and helped coordinate McRae’s participation in the camp. He was going into his first year as head coach at New Smyrna at the time, but as an assistant coach he’d already formed a bond starting when McRae was in the sixth grade.
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“I met him then, big ol’ joker walking around. I was surprised he was in middle school,” Hubbard said. When McRae came over to the New Smyrna team as a freshman, he made the leap to varsity right away. “Him coming in with his size and his athletic ability, JV was never gonna be an option for him,” Hubbard added.
McRae and Hubbard quickly found a mutual respect and friendship as player and coach.
McRae initially played walk-down safety in New Smyrna’s one-high scheme and thrived, coming away with “three or four” interceptions. He stayed at safety the next year, but the team transitioned to more of a two-high look, giving him more freedom to roam. At the time, he was 215 pounds, but the coaching staff knew he was still growing. They prepared for it by playing him at outside linebacker and even moving him down to defensive end.
“It’s high school ball, so he was our ‘dog,’’ Hubbard said. “We knew he was gonna make something happen.”
Going into his junior year, McRae grew in size, making his transition to linebacker permanent. He still wasn’t done moving around, playing Mike, Sam and Will linebacker to adjust to teams attempting to move the ball away from him.
McRae committed to Florida in 2016 before decommitting in 2017 and re-opening his recruitment. It closed again once Raymond Woodie became Florida State’s linebackers coach this offseason. Woodie pounced on the opportunity with McRae, contacting Hubbard and quickly getting in touch with the linebacker. They connected instantly.
“I can look up to him,” McRae said. “I can look up to him because he’s a black, African-American man. He can reflect on my life; I can reflect on his. I feel like he’s gonna get me better and a chance to be in the NFL. He brings energy to the table; I can bring a lot of energy to the table. Once I get comfortable in the Florida State program, I can take off. Coach Woodie wants dogs, and I feel like I can give him that.”
McRae enrolled at IMG Academy in January, and Hubbard’s resignation at New Smyrna went public not long after. His former player had a passionate response.
LET ME TELL YALL THIS, I HAVE SO MUCH LOVE FOR THIS MAN! HES TAUGHT ME EVERYTHING I KNOW FROM THE PAST 3 YEARS WOULDN’T HAD WANTED A BETTER COACH! EVERYBODY SAW WHAT HAPPENED ON FRIDAY NIGHTS BUT DIDN’T SEE WHAT THAT MAN DID MONDA-THURSDAY. DONT LIKE WHAT I SAY UNFOLLOW ME✊🏽 https://t.co/9nlBXIOXcX
— 14ReasonsWhy 🌪 (@JaleelMcrae) January 26, 2018
“When you coach somewhere, you have an affinity for the kids,” Hubbard said. “I always got love for a lot of my kids, former and current. But he was one of the first ones that wasn’t ashamed to express himself. He told me, ‘Coach, I love you.’ ”
The decision for McRae to move three hours from home across the state to Bradenton and leave his family, old coach and teammates wasn’t an easy one, but he felt IMG was the best option for him to prepare for college. His goal is to compete right away at Florida State, even if it’s on special teams or in a lesser role, and a loaded IMG roster gives him a primer of what might await.
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Before McRae could even get on the field here, however, IMG delivered some bad news. McRae had been playing with a broken hand throughout his junior year, and it was going to require surgery and force him to miss spring camp.
“You get to know him a little bit different, because he’s not out there,” IMG Academy head coach Kevin Wright told The Athletic. “He’s off the field, you’re talking to him sitting on the sidelines, seeing how a kid like that deals with adversity knowing that everything’s on the line. That’s a situation where he was really looking forward to the spring and the opportunity to get reps, and it didn’t happen. But I think he responded well and has stayed focused on moving forward.”
The adversity that McRae faced wasn’t all bad. Being unable to participate meant more conversations and downtime with his new head coach, and that led to yet another strong relationship.
“Me and coach Wright, the connection between me and him, boy. It has grown since I got here,” McRae said. “Even when I was out, he kept me positive. My linebacker coach, coach Go-Go, coach Keith Goganious, he stayed on my side. He told me that we were both gonna get through this together. That really showed me love. I felt like I was wanted here, so I kept being motivated. With both of them on my side, I knew I was gonna be alright.”
The recruitment of McRae is a part of a larger trend at Florida State. Fellow Tribe 19 member Kalen DeLoach also plays linebacker and is built more like a safety, featuring a combination of both physicality and speed. Redshirt freshman DeCalon Brooks also fits the same mold as the starting STAR linebacker. Freshman Jaiden Woodbey played safety in high school but has switched to STAR for the Seminoles.
Florida State clearly wants versatile linebackers capable of playing multiple positions and being useful all over the field, and McRae checks all the boxes.
“For a kid that size, he runs really well, he changes direction really well, he’s got good instincts,” Wright said. “The physicality that he had at safety, now he can utilize that even better at linebacker.
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“You see that a lot. You see guys that start in the back end, develop that skill set, footwork, all those things that DBs have. And then as they grow, and they get to the next level, they bump down to linebacker because it’s such a hybrid role. I think that really fits his skill set, because he’s had to cover guys his whole life, but he’s been a physical guy. Given the fact that he’s a guy that’s 6-2, 6-3, 230 pounds, that can run and cover, he’s got a high ceiling.”
McRae isn’t oblivious to his potential, but he knows he isn’t perfect, either. He said he needs to improve at getting to the ball. And that once he does so, he’ll “be an unbelievable player.” Along with his individual gains, he also has championship aspirations.
“I’m worried about getting a national championship here at IMG, but as well as at Florida State,” he said. “I want to bring back multiple national championships, and I feel like we can do that with the class that we have right now coming in and the team that they have right now.”
“Whatever position they want me to play,” McRae said when asked where he fits into that picture. “I’ma play it for ’em and I’ma give ’em 120 percent, and we’ll just go from there.”
