UNH Today

Dylan Laube ’23 didn’t have to weave through much on-field traffic during the 30-minute media session after the first day of practice at the Reese’s Senior Bowl, an annual all-star showcase of NFL draft prospects. As hordes of reporters flocked to players more established on the national stage, Laube walked across the field in relative anonymity.

By the end of the next day, a modest throng of reporters gathered around him, curious to learn more about the representative from the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) school in New Hampshire who was more than holding his own.

And then, after yet another impressive performance on Day 3, it’s a whole different story.

“I talked to his agent, and he said you couldn’t even get to Dylan,” says Laube’s father, Kyle. “The whole 30 minutes, it was just media member after media member after media member.”

That three-day story arc at the Senior Bowl served to further launch Laube into the pro football consciousness ahead of the NFL draft. It was also a particularly fitting microcosm of his arrival. From under-recruited running back to small-school standout to NFL draft pick, Laube had to scratch and claw at every step of the slow-build rise from obscurity to center stage, a rise built almost entirely on his gritty determination.

That journey culminated April 27, when Laube was selected with the 32nd pick of the sixth round (and 208th overall) in the NFL draft by the Las Vegas Raiders, officially launching his professional football career and fulfilling a dream that began when Laube was 5 years old.

Laube was the first UNH player selected in the NFL draft since Jared Smith in 2013 and the first offensive player since quarterback Bob Jean was picked by the Bengals in 1989. Jerry Azumah, who played running back at UNH, was selected by the Chicago Bears in 1999 but was converted to a defensive back in the NFL.

“As a kid, you grow up thinking you’re going to make the NFL. This is what I’ve always dreamed of doing for me and my family,” Laube says. “I don’t care where you come from, if you’re small, if you’re big — if you put in the work, that’s how you get a shot. The only thing people see is when the cameras are on and I’m on the screen, but there’s so much effort that went into it every day, the late-night stuff, the early-morning workouts.”

The invite to the Senior Bowl alone illustrated the degree to which Laube had begun to catch the attention of scouts at the pro level this winter. Senior Bowl rosters are made up almost entirely of players from the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), a level above the FCS stage the Wildcats play on; there were only four FCS players chosen to participate in the Senior Bowl this year. On the heels of that selection, Laube also got invited to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis a few weeks later, a similarly atypical experience for FCS players.

And yet it seemed somehow fitting given his path that, despite those accolades, Laube still had to battle to get the attention of the media in attendance at the Senior Bowl. But as he’d done before, he wasted little time catching eyes — from the press as well as on social media, where highlights of him outdueling players from larger schools and more renowned programs quickly made the rounds on X (formerly Twitter).

"As a kid, you grow up thinking you’re going to make the NFL. This is what I’ve always dreamed of doing for me and my family."

“His goal his entire life was to play in the NFL, so to see that come to fruition, to see the dedication and all that he’s poured into this, I am super happy for him and his family,” says Rick Santos ’08, head football coach at UNH. “You’d be hard pressed going back to find one rep where he was not giving maximum effort. Every single time he touched the ball, he tried to outwill and outrace the defense. His energy and demeanor are really special, and I think his approach to the game and how hard he worked was a great separator.”

STARTING YOUNG

The first signs of the mentality that would shape Laube’s football journey were present from a very young age — and often ended family game night early.

“Dylan has always had a very tough, very stubborn mindset. It was Dylan’s way or you weren’t part of it,” his mother, Noel, says.

“We couldn’t even play board games when he was younger because somehow it always turned into a family fight,” Kyle adds.

Some of that competitiveness is in Laube’s genes — Noel played college basketball at Manhattanville College, and Kyle has played hockey his whole life. Noel coached basketball as the kids grew up, and Kyle coached football. Kyle and Noel started their children — Laube is the middle of three siblings — in a variety of sports and encouraged them to find their favorites.

Laube started playing football at 5 years old, competing with kids two years older alongside his older brother, Devin, because his age group didn’t field a team.

He hid the age gap fairly well, though.

“He was always playing two years up, but he was one of the more dominating players at that age level. That was when we knew he was kind of special — he wasn’t just good, he was dominating kids two years older than him,” Kyle says.

Laube played basketball, football, lacrosse, soccer and baseball as a kid and excelled at both football and lacrosse, in particular. He was a standout football star at Westhampton Beach High School, running for 2,680 yards as a senior and sharing the Hansen Award, given to the best player in Suffolk County.

Despite that success, recruiters weren’t knocking down Laube’s door. UNH emerged as the school that pursued him the most aggressively — he didn’t get the same attention even from Stony Brook in his own backyard — and he liked his visit to campus and the vibe he got from the coaches.

“I loved the staff, and I loved the school. I thought, this is the one school that is kind of giving you a chance. So I committed at the end of the summer, and I haven’t had a regret since,” Laube says.

LIFE AS A WILDCAT

Laube’s UNH career got off to something of a tenuous start. In 2018, the Wildcats finished with a losing record for the first time in 15 years. The following season long-time coach Sean McDonnell took a leave of absence due to illness before ultimately retiring, and the 2020 campaign was canceled after one game due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Laube persevered, and his time in the spotlight arrived during his redshirt junior season in 2022. He finished that year as the national leader in all-purpose yards per game at 194.3 and ranked in the top 10 in four other categories, including finishing second in total touchdowns with 19.

That was enough to prompt the first NFL scouts to start sniffing around.

It was also enough to prompt Laube to consider transferring in search of a larger stage to play on. But he met with Coach Santos, who essentially pledged to build the offense around Laube’s unique skillset as a running back with exceptional receiving ability.

“When we sat down in the off-season and he was thinking of transferring, the big selling point we had was, ‘If you can put together a similar type of year, you’re going to have a legitimate shot to get drafted,’” Santos says. “We wanted to make sure we could find different, creative ways to get him the football.”

So Santos and the staff started using Laube as a wide receiver as well as a running back. And Laube rewarded the coaching staff’s faith emphatically, turning in another stellar campaign. He was once again first in the nation in all-purpose yards per game (209.5) and he was second in total touchdowns and scoring.

The highlight of the season was a record-breaking showing against FBS squad Central Michigan, when Laube posted 371 all-purpose yards, including a school-record 295 receiving yards. It was the ultimate coming-out party that showcased the unique combo of rushing, receiving and kick return skills that Laube possesses.

“We were flying home after that and I looked at (running back coach) Tommy Herion and said, ‘That moment probably just got him drafted,’” Santos says.

Despite the on-field accolades, Laube looks back most fondly on his time at UNH because of the bond he built with teammates.

“They’re my family,” Laube says. “I’ve got brothers and a second family for the rest of my life.”

That feeling is mutual, Santos says. Despite being the lone draft prospect on the team, Laube never put himself above the group and was always a committed teammate. He was elected a captain — by anonymous vote from the players with no input from the coaches — in 2023.

“I think everybody wanted his success as much as he wanted it for himself,” Santos says. “He could easily have made it about himself, but he never did that. Everybody was just kind of drawn to him by his presence.”

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

Laube has never been one to turn his back on a challenge. That’s why he signed up for every speaking opportunity he could at UNH.

Since he was a child, Laube has battled a mild stutter. But rather than let it send him into his shell, he looked for every chance to confront it head on.

“I always want to push through stuff. So every class I could take that was either something where you had to stand up in front of the class to do a presentation or talk in front of everyone, I did,” says Laube, who majored in health and physical education at UNH. “I’m just someone who wants to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations. I never shy away from a challenge.”

That mentality served him well throughout the pre-draft process, when he had the chance to meet — in person or virtually — with all 32 NFL teams. He did enough to impress on the field and in the interview room that the Raiders decided to take a shot on him.

The early analysis of his selection was overwhelmingly positive. Among the reviews, ESPN analyst Field Yates referred to the Laube pick as “one of my favorite picks” of the third day of the draft.

Laube likely isn’t getting caught up in the headlines, though. He knows he’ll have to earn his way onto the roster in training camp — which is just the latest in a long line of opportunities to prove to everyone he can’t be overlooked. Just like he has every step of the way so far.

He knows he’ll have to go out and take it. That’s never stood in his way before.

“I think you see a lot of success in the NFL from those guys who are just hard workers,” Laube says. “It’s not about who is the best guy or who is the strongest guy; it’s about who will outwork every other person.”