Nick Chubb: How is his injury rehabilitation going?

Nick Chubb missed half of the 2015 NCAA season due to injury. With a recent video of him sprinting on a treadmill, will Chubb be ready day one in 2016?

Nick Chubb turned the college football world upside down as a true freshman in 2014, when he took over the reigns in the Georgia Bulldogs backfield for the then suspended Heisman hopeful Todd Gurley. As a true freshman, Chubb had the best season of any first-year UGA tailback not named Herschel Walker.

At the start of the 2015 NCAA campaign, Nick Chubb was a serious Heisman Trophy contender for the Georgia Bulldogs. When he took over the starting tailback duties for Gurley in October 2014, Chubb rushed for over 100 yards in every game he started in the UGA backfield.

That was until he tore his PCL and ACL in Knoxville on the first play from scrimmage against the Tennessee Volunteers on October 10th, 2015. Chubb’s promising sophomore season with the Dawgs was over in an instant.

As Chubb’s knee injury was both gruesome and complex, many question if the Georgia Bulldogs’ best player would stand a chance at being able to return to the gridiron early in the 2016 NCAA season.

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Dawg Nation knew that Nick Chubb was a fantastic athlete, but would he have enough time to get back to full strength in September versus the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta?

Late Thursday night, a video surfaced of Nick Chubb sprinting on a treadmill in the same manner that Todd Gurley did when he was getting ready for the 2015 NFL Draft. Gurley tore his ACL at home versus the Auburn Tigers in late November 2014. He entered the NFL Draft a year early, went No. 10 to the then St. Louis Rams, and went on to win the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award.

While Chubb seems like he is progressing well with his rehabilitation, keep in mind that he still has to essentially relearn how to cut and juke, two parts of being a running back that can prove difficult after sustaining that type of knee injury.

Since Nick Chubb did hurt his knee roughly six weeks earlier into the 2015 season than did Gurley in the 2014 campaign, there is hope that he will be able to play for the Red and Black in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game in the Georgia Dome against the North Carolina Tar Heels in Week 1.

Next: Georgia Bulldogs release spring practice schedule

However, don’t expect Chubb to play in mid-April’s G-Day Game at Sanford Stadium or do very much of anything in UGA’s spring practice in the next few months. New head coach Kirby Smart will cautiously work Nick Chubb back into the running back rotation. For now, expect true junior Sony Michel to stand as the Dawgs’ starting tailback in September for the 2016 NCAA season. Go Dawgs!