With his 1,547 yards rushing and 16 total touchdowns in the 2014 season, Nick Chubb became the most prolific freshman tailback at Georgia since the legendary Herschel Walker was running the Bulldogs to a national championship in the fall of 1980.
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En route to All-SEC First Team, SEC Freshman of the Year and Freshman All-America honors, the 5-10, 228-pound Chubb assumed the starting tailback position when Todd Gurley was slapped with a four-game suspension and proceeded to take the SEC by storm. As a starter, the Cedartown native had eight straight games with at least 100 yards rushing, the first Georgia player to do that since Walker in 1982.
[su_spacer size=”40″]Chubb, who also had 18 receptions for 213 yards and two scores, averaged 7.1 yards per carry, which ranked first among the SEC’s top 10 rushers. In the Bulldogs’ 37-14 Belk Bowl pelting of Louisville, Chubb took his game to still another level … romping for a career-high and SEC bowl record of 266 rushing yards on 33 carries.
[su_spacer size=”40″]It was the second-highest single-game rushing total in Georgia history, behind only Walker’s 283 yards in his 1980 freshman season against Vanderbilt.
[su_spacer size=”40″]It’s safe to say with Nick Chubb returning for his sophomore campaign in Athens as a bonafide All-America and Heisman Trophy candidate, that Tailback U is indeed alive and well at the University of Georgia.
[su_spacer size=”40″]In this year’s spring practice, Chubb saw very limited action in the first two scrimmages and then, in the April 11 G-Day game, he carried the ball only three times for 34 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown run, and also caught three passes for 23 yards.
[su_spacer size=”40″]One of the top priorities for Brian Schottenheimer’s new-look Georgia offense in the spring was to come up with ample depth behind Chubb at the running back spot. However, with talented rising sophomore Sony Michel and junior Keith Marshall missing most of the heavy contact work due to injuries, it remained for junior Brendan Douglas and redshirt sophomore A.J. Turman to carry the tailback load.
[su_spacer size=”40″]As expected, Douglas continued his powerful, tackle-breaking ball carrying but what wasn’t expected was the way Turman, the 6-0, 215-pound product of Orlando, Fla. who was saddled by injury his first two years at UGA, made his presence felt on the depth chart.
[su_spacer size=”40″]Running for 106 yards including a 52-yard touchdown gallop in the G-Day game, Turman rushed a combined 63 times for 333 yards and five touchdowns over the Bulldogs’ three spring scrimmages. Whether he would be able to climb any higher on Coach Thomas Brown’s tailback depth chart once Michel and Marshall return healthy for fall camp remains to be seen but, at the very least, Turman has shown the coaching staff he can get the job done if called upon this coming season.
[su_spacer size=”40″]“A.J. is a very physical runner,” said Chubb. “He gets downhill and is a perfect fit for what we do at Georgia. I think we’re all doing a good job just running the ball. We’re all − A.J., me and Brendan and now we’ve got Quayvon Hicks in there running − all are doing a great job and running hard.”
[su_spacer size=”40″]“A.J. is a tough running back,” offered senior nose tackle Chris Mayes. “He’s overcome injuries and he’s just been dying to get on the field so he’s just waiting for his moment to shine and trying to make the most of his opportunities.”
And this, from Georgia senior defensive end Sterling Bailey: “A.J’s coming off that foot injury, but this spring he’s really playing hard and running the ball hard. It kind of looks like he hasn’t been injured. He’s really toting the ball well.”
[su_spacer size=”40″]Turman said he’s just elated that he was able to get back onto the playing field this spring and make contributions to the Bulldogs’ offense.
[su_spacer size=”40″]“It feels like forever since I’ve played in a game and I just can’t wait to play in a game this year,” he said. “It does feel good to be back out there with the guys again, I love it. I feel like I am 100 percent again. With Keith and Sony out, I get more reps and it gives me more of a chance to play. But I hope they bounce back fast, I know they will. “I learned a lot playing behind Nick and the others,” Turman continued. “Playing behind anybody you just find what they do successfully and what they do badly and just pick up little things and techniques. Nick is a powerful running back and he’s quick. I picture myself fitting in real good here because we’re all powerful running backs and that’s what Georgia produces and I think I fit in perfectly into this system. Coach is putting me in wherever he feels like. He’s giving me a lot of reps at everything. He just wants me to learn the playbook and I’ve been learning it. Every opportunity I get I try to be successful at it.”
[su_spacer size=”40″]The spring emergence of Turman, the hoped-for healthy returns of Michel and Marshall and the continued tough inside running by Douglas should all add up to the Bulldogs boasting arguably the deepest tailback corps in the SEC this coming season. But, make no mistake about it, it should still be the “Nick Chubb Show” that will be featured at football stadiums across the Deep South this fall.
[su_spacer size=”40″]And one thing you can bet your life on: The mighty freshman accomplishments Chubb recorded last season haven’t changed the player who wears No. 27 one iota. Nor will what Chubb does in his approaching sophomore season change him either. He’s still the humble, soft-spoken guy that he was as an elementary and high school student in Cedartown. He’s the ultimate team man, a player who simply does what the coaches want him to do and a person who would never, ever toot his own horn.
[su_spacer size=”40″]“Nick is one of the hardest working guys on the team,” said former Georgia star tailback and new running backs coach Thomas Brown. “That doesn’t say a whole lot, I’m still trying to get even more work out of him (laughing). But he’s a model of consistency,” said Brown. “He shows up every single day and does what I ask him to do. He goes after it every single day, he attacks and I think having all those guys when we’re healthy and full strength, pushing each other every single day is going to make all of us better, not just Nick by himself. I’m trying to get him into a leadership role to where he’s going to be in that position of being one of the more high profile guys on the team but also having great production as well. My deal about leadership is not trying to force yourself to be somebody different than what you are,” Brown added. “I’m not about guys being rah-rah guys, yelling and screaming and doing a bunch of different stuff like that but I think there are times when guys need to step up and be vocal and keep other guys accountable. I think Nick can be that type of guy but that will be up to him.”
[su_spacer size=”40″]“There’s always ways for me to improve … just gain a little more weight, get stronger and be more of a vocal leader,” said Chubb. “Obviously I don’t talk much so I guess it will mean more once I do and they’ll listen and we’ll get rallied up and ready to play. I’m always focused on weights and running.” During spring practice, Chubb was thrilled, and a bit in awe, to be able to have a meeting with the top Bulldog running back of all time.
[su_spacer size=”40″]“It was a great experience for me, meeting Herschel, probably Georgia’s greatest running back ever,” Chubb said. “I didn’t know what to say. It was just shocking for me to get to meet him. I heard a lot about him obviously and knew about Herschel when I was young, just watching highlights of him running the ball. I never got to meet him … I always heard he was different and he’ll tell you that, too. Herschel told me it’s always great to come back to your state because it’s always going to be home for you and people are always going to support you and love you. So seeing him go through the process I’m in right now, I’ll be able to come back one day to Georgia and it makes me happy and proud. Herschel gave me great advice, just always work hard and it’s not going to come easy.
[su_spacer size=”40″]“Herschel was the greatest running back at Georgia and obviously hearing people say we’ve got some similarities, it makes me happy,” concluded Nick Chubb, who well could emerge into the first Bulldog tailback to seriously threaten the fabled Walker’s single-season and career rushing records.