Devin Charles-Hubbard knows he’ll get chills at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday.
Not the kind he got standing on the sideline in the snow when the New England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos in the AFC championship game.
These chills will be the ones you get when living a dream that has taken you from Uptown New Orleans, where you were born and raised, to Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California.
Hubbard, 34, is in his third season as New England's assistant equipment manager, a gig that will put him on the biggest stage when the Patriots play the Seattle Seahawks.
“You want to treat it like a regular game, but at the same time, it’s the Super Bowl," Hubbard said. "You want to be on your P’s and Q’s and double and triple check everything.”
Hubbard has been in big games before. He was the equipment manager for Tulane when the Green Wave stunned Southern Cal in the 2023 Cotton Bowl. He was a ball boy for the New Orleans Hornets and Pelicans, including the sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers in 2018. And he’s even worked at a Super Bowl before, serving as a ball boy in the Superdome 13 years ago when the Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers.
“This one is going to hit different because now I’m actually working for a team,” Hubbard said. “I haven’t thought about what it will feel like. I just want to embrace it and take it all in. It’s going to be a big spectacle, but we have to treat it like a regular game. But I think I’m going to be in awe.”
Hubbard’s journey to the Super Bowl began in 2009. Hubbard, a McMain High School graduate, was a freshman at Tulane when he started working for the then-New Orleans Hornets as a ball boy. He worked for David “Big Shot” Jovanovic, the only equipment manager the franchise has ever had.
“You could tell real early on that Devin wanted to be in equipment,” Jovanovic said. “He was always on time and willing to do anything and he always did it with a smile on his face. He could always figure things out, so he’s perfect for this role he’s in now. He’s earned it by working his way from the Pelicans to Tulane to the NFL.”
Hubbard says his best times with the Pelicans were making the playoffs, interacting with superstars throughout the NBA and the brotherhood with his co-workers.
Jono Barnes was one of those in that brotherhood.
Barnes and Hubbard would often work the visitors’ locker room for the Pelicans games. They would often joke and have friendly trash talk with opposing players. Those conversations built relationships that lasted. LeBron James once even sent Hubbard and a few other ball boys some of his signature shoes.
“LeBron doesn’t do that for everybody,” Barnes said. “That just shows how personable and impressionable Devin could be.”
One of the fondest memories Jovanovic and Barnes have about Hubbard is his striking resemblance to NBA superstar Kyrie Irving. Barnes even took a picture of Hubbard and Irving at the 2017 NBA All-Star game in New Orleans.
“It felt like the Spider-Man pointing meme as they sat together while I took the picture,” Barnes said. “Fans were wondering if Devin was Kyrie’s twin, brother or stunt double. Every opposing player and Pelicans player would always call him Kyrie Irving.”
Hubbard’s next stop was Tulane. His fondest memory there was that magical January evening three years ago when the Wave won the Cotton Bowl. It was his final game working for Tulane. He began working for the Patriots five months later.
“It was something I couldn’t pass up,” Hubbard said. “After working in pro basketball and college football, I knew I wanted to find my way to the NFL and I was blessed to get here. Everyone loves New Orleans. I love where I am from, too. But I always knew there was more to the world than just Louisiana. I wanted to experience that. And I don't mind the cold.”
The first two seasons were tough. The Patriots went 4-13 in each of their first two seasons. This year, they turned things around. They punched their ticket to the Super Bowl on Jan. 25 in Denver — on a day Mother Nature played a huge factor in the game — as a heavy snowfall arrived in the second half.
“We checked the weather, but I think it was calling for it to come later on,” Hubbard said. “But we were prepared for it. We had the big jackets. We had cleats in case guys wanted to switch cleats. We were pretty equipped for it. But it was weird. We came out from halftime and saw a few flurries. The next thing you know, it’s like, where did all this snow come from? It happened so fast.”
Hubbard’s cell phone was flooded with text messages and social media notifications once the game ended. Family and friends back home in New Orleans, typically Saints fans, are Patriots fans for now and as long as Hubbard is there. One of those friends is Barnes. Hubbard caught the garter at Barnes’ wedding back in 2022.
“Although he isn’t married yet, maybe it was meant for him to really get a Super Bowl ring instead of a wedding ring,” Barnes said.
Hubbard is four quarters away from that goal. He remembers getting those chills during the pregame flyover when the Patriots played the Houston Texans in the divisional round of the playoffs. And the ones he got in Denver. And he is anticipating the chills he will probably get once Grammy Award-winning Charlie Puth performs the national anthem Sunday.
“I had no idea this was going to be my career path,” Hubbard said. “I played sports my whole life. You hear all the time that someday it’s going to end. For some people, it ends earlier than others. For me, it ended in high school. But even if you don’t play anymore, if you were ever an athlete in high school or college, you still get those pre-game jitters. You get that feeling.”