HOOVER, Ala. — When Nick Chubb tore his knee last year, his friend Leonard Fournette sent him a song to listen to, by gospel singer Fred Hammon. The opening line: “No weapon formed against me shall prosper.”

“Just (to) listen to that when he has time,” said Fournette, LSU’s star tailback.

The two star tailbacks had a chance to catch up in person this summer at the Nike opening event in Oregon. And yes, the obvious topic came up.

“I was making sure that he was getting his strength back in his leg. I’m just ready to see him play,” Fournette said. “He told me he’s working right now. ‘No days off’ is what he told me.”

Fournette was the center of attention when he sat down on Thursday at SEC media days. He’s coming off a season in which he led the nation with 1,953 yards and 22 touchdowns.

And yet it hasn’t changed Fournette’s mind that Chubb – injured on the first play of the sixth game last year – is the better tailback.

“I still feel that way,” Fournette said.

Chubb is on track to have no limitations at the start of Georgia preseason practice, but it remains to be seen how much he’ll do when more physical practices arrive, and scrimmages. No one at Georgia will say for sure whether he’ll be ready for the opener, but it’s certainly looking that way.

The aftermath of Chubb’s injury, and watching it from afar, appeared to have an effect on Fournette. It all can go away quickly, and people can move on from you.

“I communicated with him a lot,” Fournette said. “Like I told him at the Nike Opener, everyone was talking about him, or not talking about him at all, because of his injury. That kind of hurt me for him, because it shows you that most of this is about business at the end of the day.”