Quiet, reserved Nick Chubb turns into a ‘monster’ for Georgia on Saturdays

ATHENS -- Following his freshman season, Nick Chubb didn’t take time off to enjoy spring break. Instead, he traveled 130 miles to his hometown of Cedartown to partake in training activities akin to two-a-days. While others soaked up the sun, Chubb was preparing for his sophomore season as if he didn’t run for 1,547 yards and 14 touchdowns, all of which he did in only eight starts.

“He’s a monster,” tight end Jay Rome said.

“The guy never takes a day off,” right guard Greg Pyke said.

But as intense as Chubb is during games, he’s surprisingly quiet and reserved on his own time. He’s not someone who opens his mouth much in practice. Before he emerged as Georgia’s starting running back in 2014 due to injuries to Sony Michel and Keith Marshall and a suspension to Todd Gurley, not many on Georgia’s roster had even heard Chubb talk.

“I don’t remember him ever talking his freshman year,” Pyke said.

Chubb keeps to himself most of the time, opting to put his body through the ringer while his college friends were enjoying a vacation elsewhere.

Chubb’s stellar freshman season has not changed his personality. As Marshall said, it’s the same Chubb who began the 2014 season fourth on the depth chart showing up to practice each day.

“He’s a very humble kid,” Marshall said. “It didn’t change the way he acted toward any of his teammates. I’m sure he deals with it in certain ways in public. He’s a really great guy. It hasn’t gone to his head. He still works hard every day. He’s responded well to it.”

But given the position he’s in, Chubb has taken it upon himself to emerge more as someone his teammates can turn to in the locker room. Rome said it took some time before he even heard Chubb say a word. Now, as Rome said, Chubb has stepped up to offer direction and guidance to his teammates without being prompted.

The team’s top option as arguably the country’s best backfield, Chubb said he doesn’t want his group to settle for mediocrity. For instance, barring injury, it’s unlikely freshman Tae Crowder sees much of the field this season with five backs in front of him. But Chubb doesn’t want the Harris County native approaching his first year with the team with that mindset.

“With Tae Crowder, he told us his job was to get us pumped up,” Chubb said. “I told him he needed to compete with us every day and try to take our spot.”

While it was only one season, Chubb has started to garner comparisons to former Georgia great Herschel Walker, much like Gurley did following his freshman season. While Gurley’s freshman year saw him rush for 1,385 yards and 17 touchdowns, Chubb’s first-year yardage total actually came close to Walker status. The 1,547 yards rank second best in single-season program history, behind Walker’s 1,616. Chubb’s 266 rushing yards against Louisville in the Belk Bowl ranks a single-game second behind Walker’s 283-yard performance against Vanderbilt in 1980.

Chubb doesn’t carry himself like he’s at the level he’s at, which includes being among the preseason contenders for the Heisman Trophy.

And that’s the way he’ll continue to be.

“He’s a pretty quiet, unassuming guy,” Georgia head coach Mark Richt said. “He’s a very hard worker. He’s a great student. He’s a great teammate. He’s becoming a great leader for us. And he doesn’t really like the hype. You can go back to his recruiting. He was very low key. He decided he wanted to be at Georgia, did it quietly, didn’t have a big old press conference and stuck to his decision, didn’t do a bunch of stuff to bring attention to himself. He doesn’t care about that.”

This story was originally published August 29, 2015 at 10:14 AM with the headline "Quiet, reserved Nick Chubb turns into a ‘monster’ for Georgia on Saturdays ."