Nick Chubb Injury: Updates on Georgia RB's Knee and Recovery
Georgia running back Nick Chubb is continuing to rehabilitate the torn PCL in his knee that cut his 2015 season short.
Continue for updates.
Chubb Expects to Be Ready for Opening Game
Tuesday, June 21
"It's gonna be something to see. ... We're gonna be in Atlanta and I'll be back for [the] opening game," Chubb told SEC Network (h/t GATA Dawgs).
His head coach, Kirby Smart, wasn't quite ready to be that optimistic just yet.
"It's hard to say, 'Start the first game, rush for 1,000 yards, do this, do that' when we don't know what the future holds," Smart told SEC Network (h/t GATA Dawgs). "He is competing day by day. It would be great to say that he's going to be 100 percent to start the season, let's go against North Carolina, but it might also be foolish to assume that."
That uncertainty mirrored a report from SEC pundit Tony Barnhart in May on the The Frank Frangie Show (via Ben Kercheval of CBSSports.com):
"The orthopedic people that I've talked to say from the date you injure the way he injured that knee, it's a calendar year. So if he comes back before the end of September, I'm going to be surprised. But if he comes back anywhere close to what he was before, Georgia's going to develop the quarterback and they're going to have a pretty good football team.
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Chubb rushed for 747 yards and seven touchdowns in six games last season before missing the remainder of the year.
Certainly, having Chubb back in action would be a huge boost for Georgia's offense. A healthy Chubb is a candidate for the Heisman Trophy and would give Georgia a dangerous weapon to build its offense around.
In turn, that could take the pressure off whoever wins the quarterback battle between Greyson Lambert, Brice Ramsey and Jacob Eason.
Georgia certainly doesn't need to rush Chubb back into action. In Chubb's absence last year, Sony Michel ran for 1,161 yards and eight touchdowns, so the Bulldogs are in good hands. Michel is more than capable of carrying the load while Chubb is sidelined.
Still, the thought of a platoon between those two backs has to be frightening for the rest of the SEC. Georgia would be able to grind down opposing defenses and have two fresh running backs in the fourth quarter, though a healthy Chubb would be expected to earn the starter's distinction.
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