Noonan
#howu
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Columbus Dispatch just wrote a profile on Hughes a couple days ago.
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NFL draft: Extra effort put Gahanna’s Hughes on radar
Butch Jones was standing near the offense one day in practice last season when the Cincinnati football coach saw something across the field that startled him.
There was 310-pound defensive lineman John Hughes sprinting onto the field for a practice rep. It was as if Pete Rose shed 50 years, gained 100 pounds and switched sports.
“Afterward, I called him over and asked, ‘Why are you doing that?’ ” Jones recalled. “He said, ‘ Coach, I’ve got to get in great shape. I’ve got to play at a high level.’ After that day, his game just took off.”
Now Hughes, a Gahanna High School graduate, has a chance to be selected in the NFL draft this week.
Only 12 months ago, Jones said, a mediocre spring practice had put the senior on the second team.
“I didn’t put football in my priorities like I should have, and the results showed it,” Hughes said.
But he resolved to work hard in the offseason, and he played well in camp. A few games into the 2011 season, Hughes’ performance really took off.
“He wasn’t even being looked at (as an NFL prospect),” Jones said. “Then the light clicked. He started playing at a whole other level, a whole other speed level. I’ve never seen an individual progress like he did.”
Hughes said it was simply a matter of not wanting to disappoint his teammates and his position coach, Steve Stripling, as his career wound down.
“I felt like my performance wasn’t helping,” Hughes said. “I had to get it going as much as I could.”
Part of that was giving maximum effort in everything, including running onto the field. Soon, his teammates joined him in the sprinting.
“If people see a 310-pound guy running on and off the field, running to the ball, the competitive side comes out of them,” Hughes said. “If you see 11 guys running to the ball, it’s intimidating.”
Hughes finished the season with 51 tackles — 121/2 for loss — and five sacks.
“I felt like a different player because I was a year older, a year wiser, a year more mature,” Hughes said.
Jones said he believes there’s a “great possibility” that Hughes could be drafted. If that’s the case, it will cap a remarkable story.
Raised by his grandmother, Esther Hughes, he has already graduated with a degree in criminal justice. That’s especially impressive considering that poor grades in high school caused Michigan State to pull a scholarship offer.
“He defines everything we want in our football program,” Jones said. “We always talk about being able to suffer through adversity. It makes you struggle and makes you better. That’s what it has done to John Hughes. That’s why I think he’ll be successful in whatever happens.”
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NFL draft: Extra effort put Gahanna’s Hughes on radar
Butch Jones was standing near the offense one day in practice last season when the Cincinnati football coach saw something across the field that startled him.
There was 310-pound defensive lineman John Hughes sprinting onto the field for a practice rep. It was as if Pete Rose shed 50 years, gained 100 pounds and switched sports.
“Afterward, I called him over and asked, ‘Why are you doing that?’ ” Jones recalled. “He said, ‘ Coach, I’ve got to get in great shape. I’ve got to play at a high level.’ After that day, his game just took off.”
Now Hughes, a Gahanna High School graduate, has a chance to be selected in the NFL draft this week.
Only 12 months ago, Jones said, a mediocre spring practice had put the senior on the second team.
“I didn’t put football in my priorities like I should have, and the results showed it,” Hughes said.
But he resolved to work hard in the offseason, and he played well in camp. A few games into the 2011 season, Hughes’ performance really took off.
“He wasn’t even being looked at (as an NFL prospect),” Jones said. “Then the light clicked. He started playing at a whole other level, a whole other speed level. I’ve never seen an individual progress like he did.”
Hughes said it was simply a matter of not wanting to disappoint his teammates and his position coach, Steve Stripling, as his career wound down.
“I felt like my performance wasn’t helping,” Hughes said. “I had to get it going as much as I could.”
Part of that was giving maximum effort in everything, including running onto the field. Soon, his teammates joined him in the sprinting.
“If people see a 310-pound guy running on and off the field, running to the ball, the competitive side comes out of them,” Hughes said. “If you see 11 guys running to the ball, it’s intimidating.”
Hughes finished the season with 51 tackles — 121/2 for loss — and five sacks.
“I felt like a different player because I was a year older, a year wiser, a year more mature,” Hughes said.
Jones said he believes there’s a “great possibility” that Hughes could be drafted. If that’s the case, it will cap a remarkable story.
Raised by his grandmother, Esther Hughes, he has already graduated with a degree in criminal justice. That’s especially impressive considering that poor grades in high school caused Michigan State to pull a scholarship offer.
“He defines everything we want in our football program,” Jones said. “We always talk about being able to suffer through adversity. It makes you struggle and makes you better. That’s what it has done to John Hughes. That’s why I think he’ll be successful in whatever happens.”
