ATHENS – The word got around the Georgia football team Monday that Nick Chubb was in the training room. Jay Rome was among those who made sure to stop by.

“Just let him know that I’m still praying for him. And I prayed with him,” Rome said. “We’re definitely a family, we’re gonna be there for him when he needs us.”

Guard Greg Pyke was among those who talked to Chubb on the plane ride back from Knoxville.

“He’s in good spirits, and we have some of the best medical staff here, so I think he’ll have a speedy recovery,” Pyke said.

But it won’t be this season. Chubb will be getting surgery soon after tearing ligaments in his knee, though not his ACL. The hope is the star tailback will be ready for next season.

So the Bulldogs now turn to Sony Michel, who had 140 rushing yards in relief duty on Saturday, and as a recruit was considered about equal to Chubb. The bigger question may be how backups Keith Marshall and Brendan Douglas fill in, as Georgia typically uses multiple tailbacks.

“It’s definitely a big blow,” Pyke said of Chubb. “He’s probably one of the best in the country. But we also have Sony, Keith and Brendan back there.”

Rome, unfortunately, has seen this plenty of times in his five seasons with the team. Last year it was star tailback Todd Gurley. The year before it was Marshall and receivers Malcolm Mitchell and Justin Scott-Wesley.

In fact this will be the third straight year that Missouri hasn’t had to face Georgia’s top tailback: Last year Gurley was suspended two days before the game, and the year before Marshall and Gurley were both injured.

“We have to pull together as a team and keep doing what we do,” Rome said. “We have other really good running backs and we’re gonna keep gameplanning accordingly for each team that we play each week. We’d love to have Nick back but we don’t have him so we really can’t keep thinking about it.”