Today, in people are great

I don’t do a lot of requests here at the blog, but I couldn’t resist posting one for you today.  Yesterday, I received this Twitter DM:

Lin Clayton here. Long time reader of the blog. I wanted to see if you wanted to share this on your page: my son, Luke, 10, is at the Cleveland Clinic undergoing tests before surgery to repair a tissue malformation that causes him to have seizures in his sleep (benign rolandic epilepsy). I got in touch with Nick Chubb’s agent and he came by for a visit yesterday. I can email you the entire clip (you may have already seen it shared by Radi Nabulsi). Let me know and I’ll send you pics and or the clip. Thanks and Go Dawgs!

I’m a class of 99 alumnus and season ticket holder since 2003.

Awesome on so many levels — Nick, obviously, without me really needing to say it, but also just how great it is to be able to share a story like this with the online community.

You’re still the best, Dawgnation.

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From Richt to Smart to Chubb

I’m not sure if this makes me a Richtophobe or a Richtophile, but Nick Chubb’s comparison of his two head football coaches leaves as many questions for me as answers.

From Richt, he learned how to set priorities, and that “being a great man is more important” than being a great football player.

“He definitely was a strong man of faith,” Chubb said. “That rubbed off on us, how he approached every day and lived his life. Definitely a great man to look up to.”

But the culture under Richt — at least near the end of his tenure — was apparently not conducive to strong leadership among players. Chubb said the biggest difference with Smart was that he lets the team leaders call the shots.

“It was just more of a player-led team,” Chubb said. “Guys were finally fed up with losing so we kinda just took it over ourselves. Coach Smart was there and supported us and kind of led us in the right direction with doing that.”

Those leadership moments included calling players-only meetings and taking control at practices, per Chubb.

“Coaches didn’t have to get on anybody,” he said. “We’d get on them ourselves and hold everybody accountable.”

So Richt was a figure of admiration, but didn’t inspire the players to lead themselves, while Smart, who’s a notorious control freak (and in this context, I mean that as a compliment), let team leaders call the shots.  Um, sure.  There’s no doubt Smart got better results out of this team than late vintage Richt did, but I’m having a hard time seeing the grounds for it in Chubb’s explanation.  What am I missing here?

“It just wasn’t right.”

Check out Nick Chubb’s heartfelt letter to Dawgnation.

I’m not tearing up.  You’re tearing up!

Sorry, Nick.

To save you the trouble of being upset over the absence of Nick Chubb’s name from the list of those being honored by the College Football Hall of Fame a decade from now, Patrick Garbin explains why that’s how it will go down.

The most arbitrary part of the joke is this:

As mentioned, it’s the requirement of having been a First Team All-American which will keep Georgia’s Chubb out of the Hall of Fame. Although, upon further research, Georgia’s Fran Tarkenton and Ole Miss’ Archie Manning were not chosen First Team All-American by an NCAA-recognized selector, yet both players are in the Hall, inducted in 1987 and 1989, respectively. Notwithstanding, according to the NFF, the provision of the First Team All-American status was not added until 1990, and has remained since.

This is not to say Tarkenton and Manning (nor any other player/coach cited henceforth) did not deserve induction. However, if the induction criteria were then what it is now, the two standout SEC quarterbacks from yesteryear would be in the same boat as Chubb. Instead, Tarkenton and especially Manning (by one year), who ironically has served as NFF Chairman since 2007…

Absurd.

“… I had to go with what I know, and this is where I wanted to be.”

Three things that don’t change:  death, taxes and Nick Chubb.

Last Thursday Nick Chubb was wrapping up his second workout of the day. Typically he’d have a third, but with the NFL combine approaching, his prep training was winding down.

Nearly 30 minutes into the workout, he completed six sets of two 315-pound squats—with resistance bands tied to the bar—with ease. Then he cleaned 335 pounds eight times without a hint of sweat on his brow.

Chubb, the former Georgia running back considered by many to be a top-50 prospect in April’s NFL draft, took the 45-pound plates off the bar, ready to return them to their place in the weight room. But first he had to wait on 18 high schoolers to finish their high-stretches on the other side of the room.

Rather than training in South Florida or going to a glitzy performance facility such as EXOS or IMG, as has become the tradition among each class of draft prospects, Chubb opted for familiarity for his NFL combine prep, and that means working out in his town of fewer than 10,000 people at the Cedartown High School gym that he has to share with weight-lifting classes.

You gotta love it.

“I like the running backs that are more concerned with us winning football games.”

Dan Wolken’s ode to Nick Chubb is definitely worth your time to read.  A little taste to get you started:

If Georgia wins its first national title since 1980, it will likely be because Chubb reminded everyone that when the ball is in his hands, nobody in the country is better.

Amen to that.

Nick Chubb, in the zone

Ian Boyd explores the blocking system that’s letting Nick Chubb be Nick Chubb.

Chubb’s vision and cuts, combined with his power and burst through the hole, make him the perfect back for inside zone. He can power through interior gaps, bounce runs to the edge if teams load up the middle too much, then make the most of his runs once he’s in open grass. Much of the rest of the Georgia offense is built around what they can do around this main concept. They’re killing with it and it’s all working.

It’s impressive what Chaney and Pittman are capable of when they stop being morons, eh?  (Make sure your sarcasm meters are turned on, please.)

Order is restored.

Ladies and gentlemen, the SEC’s leading rusher is…

When Nick Chubb speaks

I bet that was some team meeting.

“But you know what? Number two’s not bad.”

Watch the best run from each of Nick Chubb's TWENTY 100-yard rushing games (2nd most in school history).#RBU pic.twitter.com/QZepONteEL

— Georgia Football (@FootballUGA) October 3, 2017

No, he’s not.