At the beginning of Georgia’s spring football practice, coach Mark Richt was asked whether defenders would be allowed to tackle star tailback Nick Chubb in scrimmages.
“If they can,” Richt replied.
Chubb is the unquestioned face of the Bulldogs in 2015 after punishing defenses for 1,547 yards and 7.1 yards per carry in 2014 as an 18-year-old freshman from Cedartown. He made a splash with a 47-yard, one-cleat touchdown run in his debut against Clemson and strengthened as the season progressed.
Starting the last eight games, Chubb eclipsed 100 yards eight times and went over 200 twice, including a 266-yard performance in the 37-14 thumping of Louisville at the Belk Bowl.
Nobody is questioning whether Chubb can be productive again this season — Las Vegas oddsmakers have him third among the Heisman Trophy favorites behind Ohio State tailback Ezekiel Elliott and LSU tailback Leonard Fournette — and there is no need to doubt the leadership capabilities of the 5-foot-10, 228-pounder.
Georgia coach Mark Richt watches on the sidelines.“When a young player has the production that Nick has, it gets everybody’s attention, just like when Todd Gurley had his freshman season here,” Richt said. “Like it or not, people look to you when they see you have success, and they feed off you. With Nick, that kid works so hard every day that it’s obvious part of the reason he’s had success and the stamina to run it 25 or 30 times a game is because of how he practices every day and how he works in the offseason, and that in itself is great leadership.”
Tailback has been a turbulent position for the Bulldogs within the past decade, with Caleb King, Washaun Ealey and Isaiah Crowell having their moments on the field before getting dismissed with considerable eligibility remaining. Even Gurley last season incurred a four-game suspension for NCAA rules violations.
Chubb appears to run away from temptation quicker than he runs through defenses, as the honor roll student spent spring break working out at Cedartown High School.
“I like going back,” Chubb said after the G-Day spring game. “I’m with people who have supported me for a long time, and I think the familiarity kind of helps with my focus.”
The five-time SEC freshman of the week last season will enter his second college season having not been taxed much during the spring. He had six carries in the three combined scrimmages that included G-Day, but that’s not to say it was wasted time.
Gurley’s biggest jump from his freshman to sophomore season was in his pass-catching ability, and that was a focus for Chubb, who had an impressive 18 receptions for 213 yards and two touchdowns in 2014.
“This spring in particular, we didn’t need to see him run between the tackles much,” Richt said. “We wanted to see him improve in his third-down pass protection, route-running and ball-catching, so when we scrimmaged, we basically subbed him in for every third down. We weren’t worried too much about first and second down with him, because that has been his bread and butter from the beginning.”
Odds and ends
Richt said Tuesday at the state’s annual Pigskin Preview in Macon that the Bulldogs are pursuing quarterback Greyson Lambert, who recently graduated from Virginia. Richt did not offer a similar comment when former Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson was considering transfer destimations. … Linebacker Roquan Smith of Montezuma, who committed to UCLA and then Georgia but never signed his letter of intent this past winter, enrolled in Athens earlier this week.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.