Zac Tubbs (born May 14, 1984) is a former Division I athlete who earned athletic honors on the high school, collegiate, and professional level. He was named to the ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's'' All-Arkansas SEC Third Team on August 6, 2017.

High school career

Tubbs attended

Cullman High School Cullman High School is the only public high school in the city of Cullman, Alabama as well as the largest high school in Cullman County, Alabama. The school is classified as a 6A school and belongs to the Cullman City School District. As of ...

in his hometown of

Cullman, Alabama Cullman is the largest city and county seat of Cullman County, Alabama, United States. It is located along Interstate 65, about north of Birmingham, Alabama, Birmingham and about south of Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville. As of the 2020 United ...

. Known for being tremendously strong in the weight room, he garnered nearly every recognition available in his high school career. Named a ''Gridiron Greats'' All American and Max Emfinger four-star recruit as a senior, Tubbs was selected to ''The Birmingham News'' Super All-State Team, the Alabama Sports Writers Association Super 12 Team, and the ''Mobile Press-Register'' Elite 18 Team. ''The Birmingham News'' and Alabama Sports Writers Association both tabbed him a first-team Class 5A All-State selection. Tubbs started at left tackle in the Alabama vs. Mississippi All-Star Game Classic. Scout.com listed Tubbs as the No.1 offensive lineman in Alabama while

247 Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite bei ...

composite rankings listed him as the No.1 OT. Tubbs signed a full scholarship to the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

after being recruited by Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Stanford, Alabama, and the Naval Academy.

PrepStar ''PrepStar College Recruiting'', known also as ''PrepStar'', is an online magazine at www.prepstar.com, which was established in 1982. It provides information on the top football and basketball prospects in the United States. The online magazi ...

on Tubbs: "Tubbs is a gamer. He is very coachable and he learns quick. Zac had 107 pancake blocks and graded out at 93% his senior year. A tremendous pass blocker, Tubbs hasn't allowed a sack his entire high school career."

College career

Tubbs was a four-year letterman and team captain for the

football team. He earned his first career start as a true freshman against Louisiana Lafayette and was only one of two true freshmen to see playing time in the

SEC Championship Game The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. For its first 32 seasons, the championship game pitted the Eastern Division regular season champion again ...

against Georgia. As a sophomore, he was named to the

College Football News ''College Football News'' (''CFN'') is a magazine and website published by College Football News, Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. News coverage includes scores, statistics, rankings, and reports on college football games. Analysis incl ...

first-team All-Bowl Team after the Hogs beat Missouri in the

2003 Independence Bowl The 2003 Independence Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game between the Missouri Tigers and the Arkansas Razorbacks on December 31, 2003, at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. Missouri was making their first bowl appearance ...

. He started the first five games of his junior season at right tackle and was playing at an All-SEC pace before suffering a severe, season-ending injury. Tubbs was tabbed a preseason second-team All-SEC selection in 2005 and 2006, and was named to the Lon Farrell Academic Honor Roll. Tubbs earned several first-team All-SEC honors as a senior and CFN placed him on its Top 20 Offensive Tackles list. ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'' Sports sportswriter Alex Abramson selected Tubbs to his second-team National Senior Offense team. He was extended an invitation to play in the

Hula Bowl The Hula Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game held annually, usually in January. From inception through the 2021 playing, it was held in Hawaii; since the 2022 edition, it has been played in Orlando, Florida. The game was first s ...

, a post-season All-Star Game, and was the recipient of the Nelson Rainey Award which was given for character and leadership. The ''

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette The ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell. It is distributed for sale in all 75 of Arkansas's counties. By virtue of one ...

'' placed Tubbs on its All-Arkansas SEC Third Team in 2017. The team was composed of Arkansas' best football players since joining the Southeastern Conference. He was also named to HawgBeat.com's "Most underrated Razorbacks in the Rivals.com era" list.

Professional career

Heading into the 2007 NFL Draft, Tubbs was described as being a "strong run-blocking lineman who plays with a nasty attitude", and was ranked in the Top 200 draft eligible prospects in the country (#193). He signed a free agent contract with the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

following the

2007 NFL draft The 2007 NFL draft was the 72nd annual meeting of National Football League franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 28 and April 29, 2007. The draf ...

. Following his release from Buffalo, he signed with Team Arkansas in the newly formed

All-American Football League The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

. Tubbs spent 2009 and 2010 with the

Sioux Falls Storm The Sioux Falls Storm are a dormant professional indoor football team based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Storm joined the original Indoor Football League as an expansion team in 1999 as the Sioux Falls Cobras, and first took the field for ...

of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional indoor American football league in the United States. The league comprises 14 teams, divided equally between the Eastern Conference (EC) and Western Conference ...

, where he posted 128 knockdown blocks and earned second-team All-IFL honors in 2010. He signed with the

Allen Wranglers Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Univer ...

of the

in 2012 but retired before the season.

Athletic pedigree

Tubbs' father, Kerry, was a Class 2A All-State basketball player and collegiate All-American who held the

Cullman County Cullman County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 87,866. Its county seat and largest city is Cullman. Its name is in honor of Colonel John G. Cullmann. C ...

basketball scoring title for over thirty years. His grandfather, Murry "Stubby" Trimble, was a one-armed All-Southwestern Conference guard at Texas A&M who helped the Aggies claim the SWC Championship in 1956 under

Bear Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of ...

. His great uncle, Wayne Trimble, won two National Championships at the University of Alabama under

and was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth round of the 1967 NFL Draft.Darling, E., Voit, S., & Crutchfield, G. (2000, April 20). Hall of Fame to be wonderful asset to Cullman area. The Cullman Times, p.1B.

Hall of Fame

Tubbs was inducted into the Minor League Football Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Cullman High School Student-Athlete Hall of Fame in 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tubbs, Zac 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Cullman, Alabama Players of American football from Alabama American football offensive tackles Arkansas Razorbacks football players Buffalo Bills players Sioux Falls Storm players