Q&A: Nick Chubb learning to deal with fame, attention

FIVE QUESTIONS WITH NICK CHUBB

ATHENS — Some people are very comfortable in the limelight. Some actually crave it.

Nick Chubb is not one of those people.

Want to see what discomfort looks? Put Chubb in the middle of a media scrum, flip on some bright lights and start asking him questions about why he thinks he has been so successful.

But, like it or not, that is where Chubb is increasingly finding himself. Score 16 touchdowns, rush for more than 1,500 yards and put yourself in the front of the Heisman Trophy discussion as a sophomore and that comes with the territory.

“That’s definitely part of it,” Chubb said earlier this week as reporters shoved microphones near his face. “You come here to be a football player and there are things that come with it and that’s one of them.”

Earlier this summer, Chubb was one of hundreds of guests at freshman Terry Godwin’s going-away party. Only you wouldn’t have known unless you peered into a back corner of the ballroom, far away from the action up front. He was trying not to draw attention to himself.

That’s becoming increasingly difficult to do as more people recognize him outside of his No. 27 jersey.

“I’m surprised sometimes,” Chubb said. “People want to see me and greet me. I enjoy it, but sometimes I have to kind of fall back in the shadows and try to be unseen. I don’t want to have to deal with it sometimes. I’ll glance and I see them looking and they just (snaps fingers) know it’s me. That’s crazy.”

If Chubb does anything approaching what he did over the Bulldogs’ final eight games of last season, he can expect even more attention.

Here’s some of the questions Chubb fielded this week.

Q: Where do you go to get away from all the attention?

A: “Back home (in Cave Springs). I can get away there. That’s just home for me. People are going to see me there and just say ‘good job,’ but not much more than that. It’s more around the big towns like Athens and Atlanta where I get (attention) like that.”

Q: Do you feel any pressure to duplicate the success or production you had last year?

A: “There isn’t pressure on me. I just know if I come out here and train like I always have, things will happen naturally for me.”

Q: Do you expect to carry the ball even more this season based on the success you had last year?

A: “If all goes well, we’ll have more backs carrying the load and a great passing game. I don’t know how many carries I’ll get, but whatever I do it’ll be the best for the team. I’m not in charge of that so it’s up to them.”

Q: How much more comfortable as a college football player are you this year than you were last year?

A: “I’m way more comfortable than last year. Last year I had no clue what was going on around this time. So I’ve had a year to get everything under my belt. I’ve been able to focus on the playbook and get in the study room, so I’m a lot more comfortable now.”

Q: What’s your main goal this season?

A: “We want to be national champion, but that’s a long ways away. We have a lot of work to put in before that. But I just want us to be the best team in America.”