Hunter Luepke
American football player (born 2000)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hunter Jon Luepke[1] (lip-KEE; born February 28, 2000) is an American professional football fullback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the North Dakota State Bison and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Cowboys after the 2023 NFL draft.
Spencer, Wisconsin, U.S.
| No. 40 – Dallas Cowboys | |||||||||||||||
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| Position | Fullback | ||||||||||||||
| Roster status | Active | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | February 28, 2000 Spencer, Wisconsin, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 238 lb (108 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Spencer | ||||||||||||||
| College | North Dakota State (2018–2022) | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 2023: undrafted | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics as of 2025 | |||||||||||||||
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Early life
Luepke grew up in Spencer, Wisconsin and attended Spencer High School. He played football on a co-op team composed of students from Spencer and Columbus Catholic High School in Marshfield, Wisconsin. Luepke finished high school with 4452 rushing yards and 82 touchdowns.[2] He also added 644 receiving yard with 9 touchdowns.[3] As a sophomore Luepke helped his team reach the Division 5 State Championship game, where they would lose to the Amherst Falcons.[4] Luepke committed to play college football at North Dakota State.[5] Luepke also competed in wrestling, where he was a two-time WIAA state champion.
College career
Luepke redshirted his true freshman season with the North Dakota State Bison.[6] He played in 14 games as a redshirt freshman as the Bison won the 2019 FCS national championship.[7] Luepke was named first team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) as a redshirt sophomore after rushing for 458 yards and six touchdowns on 84 carries and caught four passes for 37 yards and one touchdown.[8][9] Luepke repeated as a first team All-MVFC selection after rushing 87 times for 543 yards and eight touchdowns.[10] Luepke entered his redshirt season as a top fullback prospect for the 2023 NFL Draft.[11][12] He rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns and caught three passes for 65 yards and another touchdown in 31-28 loss to FBS Arizona.[13]
Luepke won the 2022 Lowman Trophy for the best college fullback in the nation, presented by the Barstool Sports podcast, Pardon My Take (hosted by Dan Katz and PFT Commenter).[14]
Statistics
| Year | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 2019 | North Dakota State | 14 | 2 | 5 | 43 | 8.6 | 1 | 11 | 96 | 8.7 | 1 |
| 2020 | North Dakota State | 6 | 5 | 84 | 458 | 5.5 | 6 | 4 | 37 | 9.3 | 1 |
| 2021 | North Dakota State | 13 | 4 | 87 | 543 | 6.2 | 8 | 9 | 165 | 18.3 | 3 |
| 2022 | North Dakota State | 10 | 8 | 98 | 621 | 6.3 | 9 | 14 | 196 | 14.0 | 4 |
| Career | 43 | 19 | 274 | 1,665 | 6.1 | 24 | 38 | 494 | 11.5 | 9 | |
Professional career
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | Wingspan | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 1+1⁄4 in (1.86 m) | 230 lb (104 kg) | 31+1⁄2 in (0.80 m) | 9+5⁄8 in (0.24 m) | 6 ft 3+3⁄4 in (1.92 m) | 4.61 s | 1.50 s | 2.67 s | 4.43 s | 7.03 s | 36.5 in (0.93 m) | 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m) | |
| All values from NFL Combine/Pro Day[15][16] | ||||||||||||
Luepke was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent on April 29, 2023, shortly after the conclusion of the 2023 NFL draft, and received a $200,000 signing bonus.[17][18] He made the Cowboys' initial 53-man roster coming out of training camp.[19] In his rookie season Luepke recorded 3 carries for 13 yards and a touchdown, 2 receptions for 10 yards, 4 tackles, and 1 kickoff return for 15 yards.
On September 3, 2025, Luepke signed a two-year $7.5 million extension with the Cowboys, making him one of the highest-paid fullbacks in the NFL.[20]
NFL career statistics
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Bold | Career high |