Jim Chaney: 'I see Nick Chubb being the player he’s been before'

Count Georgia offensive coordinator Jim Chaney among those as optimistic about running back Nick Chubb’s outlook for the 2016 season.

Chubb has been able to do everything with his teammates thus far in preseason practice and met with reporters earlier in the week – a good sign, considering injured players are generally kept from the media.

Chaney said Chubb, who is coming off a significant knee injury sustained against Tennessee a season ago, has performed well in football activities thus far.

“From my perspective, and I stay out of all medical questions, but the other day he was practicing hard like everyone else is, and I see Nick Chubb being the player he’s been before,” Chaney said. “He’s a downhill running son of a gun. Let’s hand him the ball and see what he can get done.”

Before his injury, Chubb ran for 747 yards and 7 touchdowns in 2015, averaging 8.1 yards per carry. Chubb became a national name after running for 1,547 yards and 14 touchdowns as a freshman in 2014. He’ll once again be considered for the Heisman Trophy entering this year.

Chubb’s ability to run the football will be a big factor into Georgia’s success on offense this season. With Chubb, Georgia was a completely different team in its wins a year ago. Chaney will look to utilize Chubb a lot, assuming he stays healthy and has no setbacks with his knee during the remainder of the preseason.

“I think Nick has demonstrated in the past he’s a tremendous football player,” Chaney said. “I don’t see us changing a lot with what we’ve done with him before. Nothing’s broke there so let’s not fix it. He can go downhill as a heavy running back, and that’s what we’re doing. He’s out there on the field working every day to get himself in shape. I feel comfortable that they’re on track with where we’re at with the medical stuff. I’m sure (head coach Kirby Smart) will talk more about that when he gets there.”

This story was originally published August 6, 2016 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Jim Chaney: 'I see Nick Chubb being the player he’s been before'."