Nick Chubb: A serious Heisman Trophy contender in 2016?

Nick Chubb will have to overcome a season-ending knee injury in his true junior season, but is he still a legitimate contender for the 2016 Heisman Trophy?

While there is no doubt with regards to what Georgia Bulldogs superstar running back Nick Chubb can do on the gridiron when healthy, Chubb will have to overcome a very serious season-ending knee surgery thanks to the turf of Neyland Stadium should the Dawgs want to contend for an SEC Championship in 2016.

Chubb was one of a handful of Heisman hopefuls in the SEC as a true sophomore at the start of the 2015 NCAA season. He was certainly in that discussion until his ACL tear occurred in Knoxville on October 10th. With a speedy recovery, can we reasonably expect that Nick Chubb is ready to re-enter the Heisman Trophy conversation in his true junior 2016 NCAA season?

According to Bovada, Nick Chubb is one of 13 collegiate players that has at least 25/1 odds to win the 2016 Heisman Trophy. Chubb is in the middle of that elite pack of college stars with 12/1 odds, third-best at running back behind LSU’s Leonard Fournette (5/1) and 2015’s runner-up in Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey (also 5/1).

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Besides the pair of dynamic running backs, the only other players ahead of Nick Chubb in these early Heisman Trophy odds are Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson (the favorite at 9/2), Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett (10/1) and Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield (also 10/1).

Chubb sits tied for sixth with five other players including Florida State running back Dalvin Cook, Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly, and Alabama wide receiver Calvin Ridley, all at 12/1 odds of winning the 2016 Heisman Trophy.

Where Nick Chubb sits at this unbelievably early stage of the Heisman Trophy race means that he is certainly good enough to have a place in the discussion, but likely won’t receive an invitation to New York City for the early December award presentation. UGA has not had a player make it to the ceremony since running back Garrison Hearst in 1992 if you can believe that!

What benefits Chubb in a potential Heisman Trophy season is three-fold:

1.) He’s already been on the national radar since his true freshman season, where he miraculously came to the Georgia Bulldogs rescue after the Todd Gurley suspension. Essentially, Heisman voters absolutely know who he is already and that only helps his cause.

2.) Georgia has a very tough start to the 2016 NCAA season with a neutral site game at the Georgia Dome against the North Carolina Tar Heels, an SEC opener 12 hours away at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri against the Missouri Tigers, and a rare trip to Oxford, Mississippi to face the strong Ole Miss Rebels, all within the first four games of 2016. A hot start for the Dawgs and Nick Chubb only boosts his résumé into the last two-thirds of the regular season.

3.) Nick Chubb’s injury will stand as a major conversation point in any game he plays in 2016. Overcoming that type of adversity physically will aid in his case should he play well, much like it did for 2003 Heisman Trophy winner Jason White who had his issues with knee injuries.

Realistically, Nick Chubb should have a strong 2016 NCAA season, but again will come up short of making it to New York City for the presentation ceremony. He’s coming back from a gruesome knee injury and will have to likely work his way into the running back rotation in 2016, all while being coached by an entirely new offensive staff under offensive coordinator Jim Chaney.

No other player on these early Heisman hopefuls have had the type of injury in college Nick Chubb sustained. Who’s to say that he will return to peak 2014-15 form in 2016?

Next: Georgia Bulldogs: Will offense match defense in 2016?

Nick Chubb has probably more mountains to climb before possibly even considering holding the 2016 Heisman Trophy, but then again, he did have the second-best freshman season of any Georgia Bulldogs running back ever behind only Herschel Walker. Chubb is a special athlete and if he has health on his side in 2016, he could very well become a serious contender for college football’s highest individual honor during the awards season.