Chubb is ‘ready’ for return to Neyland Stadium

It’s not a play Nick Chubb likes to think about. But on Saturday, he returns to the site where it took place.

Chubb will return to Neyland Stadium, the site where his football career was briefly halted during his sophomore season. On Georgia’s first play from scrimmage against Tennessee in 2015, Chubb ran to the left side of the formation and was tackled for a 2-yard gain. On the play, Chubb’s knee buckled, and he tore his PCL, LCL and MCL.

Needless to say, Chubb, with Georgia 4-0 to start the season, is looking forward to playing at Tennessee with a full bill of health.

“I’m ready for it,” Chubb said.

While Chubb is grateful to be long removed from the knee injury, head coach Kirby Smart said he doesn’t think this game against Tennessee will hold any extra meaning for the senior running back, who chose to bypass the NFL for one final season at Georgia.

Smart believes Chubb will carry the same business-like approach into the Tennessee game like he would any other week.

“Nick’s into toting the rock and punishing people,” Smart said. “That’s what he’ll be thinking about.”

Interestingly enough, Chubb has only carried the ball twice against Tennessee in the past two seasons. He had the one carry that he was injured on in 2015. In last season’s game against Tennessee, Chubb, entering the game with a hobbled ankle, took one carry for a 3-yard gain. He didn’t play after that.

Tennessee head coach Butch Jones said Chubb has looked like a top-notch running back when evaluating his game film through four games.

“You look at the way he’s playing, and he has incredible balance,” Jones said. “He has great burst and explosion. He can make all the runs. He can make the long runs. He can make the dirty runs, as we call the 3- and 4-yard gains. He runs behind his pad level. He’s explosive. I’ve been very, very impressed with him. He’s a great football player.”

Chubb has been full-go in every game thus far in 2017. Part of that may have to do with his workload lessening a bit thanks to a stable of running backs who can all contribute.

For the season, Chubb has 59 carries for 371 yards, which is good for a 6.3 yards-per-carry average.

“I think he’s been very efficient,” outside linebacker Davin Bellamy said. “I remember when he first got here he was getting 32 carries, 33 carries. He’s getting almost half than those but also still putting up good numbers.”

Bellamy also said that Chubb could wind up playing a big role against Tennessee this year, considering he wasn’t available outside of one play in either of the last two meetings.

“I definitely feel like he’s going to be ready to go,” Bellamy said. “I can’t speak for him but if I was him, I would have some type of oomph about it too, since he hasn’t played this team in two years and we lost to this team in both years. He could definitely be that X-factor to put us over the hump if he goes out there and plays like we know he’s going to play.”

Through it all, Chubb is thankful for the opportunity to be back at Neyland Stadium.

“The last time I went up there, all that happened,” Chubb said. “It’s a blessing to be able to go up there, able to run and play like I always have. I just look forward to it.”

This story was originally published September 29, 2017 at 11:39 AM with the headline "Chubb is ‘ready’ for return to Neyland Stadium."