Kirby Smart compares Nick Chubb to Derrick Henry

Kirby Smart saw Derrick Henry each day in practice when he was an assistant at Alabama.

His defense would oftentimes go against Henry in practice, with Smart getting a close glance at how tough to defend was. Henry had a stellar season a year ago, rushing for 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns, which led him to take the 2015 Heisman Trophy.

Now that he's Georgia's head coach, Smart gets to see Nick Chubb in practice and was on the sideline for last Saturday's performance, in which Chubb ran for 222 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Naturally, since he's been around both backs, Smart got a question on Wednesday's SEC Coaches Teleconference about how Chubb and Henry compare. While both backs have a knack for churning out yards and touchdowns, Smart said they're more different than the average observer may think.

"They’re both powerful, the No. 1 similarity," Smart said. "They’re a different style, in my opinion. Derrick was a long slasher who could run the power downhill. But Derrick got a lot of his long runs bouncing things out. Nick is a very patient runner that turns the hardest of yards. He can run outside but he runs through a lot of arm tackles, like Derrick did. They got some similarities but they’re also are a little different. They’re built completely differently."

Chubb might've factored into the Heisman Trophy mix last year if it wasn't for a significant knee injury sustained against Tennessee. Chubb worked over the past 11 months to rehab his left knee, which sustained tears to his PCL, MCL and LCL, to be able to play this year.

Smart offered another similarity between Chubb and Henry in terms of each player's approach to practice.

"Two different type of kids but both of them are common in that they work extremely hard," Smart said. "They’re both very humble and loyal to their teammates."

This story was originally published September 7, 2016 at 3:38 PM with the headline "Kirby Smart compares Nick Chubb to Derrick Henry."