Whether the days were positive or painful during Georgia tailback Nick Chubb’s road to rehabilitation after last October’s gruesome knee injury at Tennessee, there was always a progress gauge he could take simply by looking down.
The latest such gauge occurred this past week, when the 5-foot-10, 220-pound junior from Cedartown, Ga., practiced for the first time without a brace.
“It’s a different kind of feel and another step forward, definitely,” Chubb said in a news conference. “I started with a big black brace and then had a smaller brace. I went through like four or five different braces, and each new one was a little smaller and a little lighter.”
Chubb isn’t saying it and neither is first-year Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart, but the expectation is that Georgia’s top tailback will suit up and compete in Saturday’s opener against North Carolina in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic. Smart said several days ago that it’s “pointing in that direction,” but that’s the closest comment to a confirmation that the coach or the player has made.
The biggest concern with Chubb entering the preseason was how his knee would respond to contact, but no red flags emerged after either of the two scrimmages.