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ATHENS, Ga. -- It was a routine play, one?Nick Chubb had run dozens of times as Georgias workhorse running back.Georgia was on the road at Tennessee?on Oct. 10, 2015, one week removed from a humbling defeat against Alabama?but still very much in the SEC East race. Chubb, a leading Heisman Trophy contender, took a toss on the Bulldogs first offensive play. He landed awkwardly after being tackled and forced out of bounds.I remember how it felt when it happened, Chubb said. There was a tingling feeling in my leg. My body went forward, and my leg went backward. I knew something was wrong.Mike Worthington, who was Chubbs track and strength and conditioning coach at Cedartown (Ga.) High School, was sitting in the stands with his wife and Chubbs girlfriend.I was 20 feet away, Worthington said. We were so close. I wasnt sure what happened. I thought he was caught in the chains.But Worthingtons wife, Libby, told him that Chubb wasnt getting up. Then someone texted him a photograph from the TV broadcast of Chubbs hyperextended left leg.It didnt look good, Worthington said.Chubb, whose only previous injury had been a broken hand in high school, knew something was terribly wrong with his knee.Im a running back, he said. I thought I tore my ACL.The next day, an MRI confirmed his injury was in fact much worse. He dislocated his left knee, tearing multiple ligaments and cartilage; only the ACL was still intact. Doctors kept him in an Athens hospital for nearly a week because they feared he might have nerve or vascular injuries in his leg, as well. Chubb would need season-ending surgery and faced months of rehabilitation. He wasnt sure when he would return to the field again.Because the injury looked so bad on TV, some even wondered whether Chubb would ever play again.But, less than a year after undergoing surgery to repair three torn knee ligaments and cartilage damage, Chubb was back in the Bulldogs starting lineup in the opener against North Carolina on Sept. 3.According to the people who worked with Chubb during his rehabilitation, his quick return to the field is a testament to his determination and desire to return to the player he once was.Malcolm Gladwell wrote about outliers, Georgia director of sports medicine Ron Courson said. Nick is an outlier. Hes genetically gifted. He has a tremendous work ethic, and hes as mentally tough as anyone Ive ever seen. Im not surprised hes back.Going into No. 12 Georgias road game at No. 23 Ole Miss on Saturday, Chubb ranks second in the SEC with 365 rushing yards with three touchdowns. Even after suffering the knee injury, hes ranked among the top running backs available for next springs NFL draft, if he decides to forgo his senior season.Its just something inside me, I guess, Chubb said. Ive never backed down from anything. I like challenges, and it was big challenge in front of me. I just wanted to come back for my teammates and everyone who supported me.In interviews with ESPN last week, Chubb, Georgias coaches, medical director and others documented his 11-month recovery, offering a behind-the-scenes look at Chubbs long and painful rehabilitation and return to the field.While Georgia fans and much of college football cheered his remarkable return, few realize the work and effort required during his recovery.On Oct. 23, nearly two weeks after the injury, Chubb underwent surgery. Orthopedic surgeon Robert Hancock repaired Chubbs knee, along with James Andrews, the renowned surgeon who has operated on countless professional athletes, including NFL running backs Adrian Peterson and Todd Gurley and golfer Jack Nicklaus.On a scale of 1 to 10, Courson described Chubbs injury as a 9. In addition to torn ligaments and cartilage, doctors also had to reattach the hamstring muscle in his left leg. In the weeks after his surgery, Chubb lost 20 pounds because of muscle atrophy.I always believed he was going to come back from Day 1, but it was a very, very significant injury, Courson said.During the first four weeks after surgery, Chubb remained in the training room at Georgias Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall nearly 12 hours each day. Since it would have been difficult for him to physically attend classes, he worked with tutors to maintain his academic work. His daily schedule included breakfast, four hours of rehabilitation, lunch, academic work and then strength and conditioning drills.Chubb worked with a nutritionist to ensure he was eating enough protein to rebuild his muscles, and he spent time with a sports psychologist to cope with the shock of the injury.I knew I was going to miss the rest of the season, so I had to accept that, Chubb said. I set short-term goals for myself and waited to see where it took me.Initially, Courson worked with Chubb on improving the flexion of his left knee and rebuilding the quad muscle in his leg. Among other exercises, he bounced while sitting on a medicine ball and slowly sidestepped over small hurdles. Dry needles were poked into his injured leg to stimulate trigger points and relieve pain in his quad muscle.After surgery, my leg was locked up and stiff for two or three weeks, Chubb said. I couldnt bend it. I had to lie on my stomach while Ron was bending my knee. It was the worst pain Ive ever felt. It was way worse than tearing it.Before Chubb could run, he literally had to learn to walk again. He spent the first nine weeks after surgery using crutches and wearing a heavy post-operative knee brace. He faced a slow, painful recovery.You cant speed up Mother Nature, Courson said. Its like baking a cake. You cant turn up the heat and speed up recovery.Less than two months after surgery, Chubb was hitting significant milestones. On Dec. 19, he walked without crutches for the first time. He started leg extensions and ran on an underwater treadmill on Jan. 15.Courson also used an experimental training method to help rebuild the muscles in Chubbs left leg. For the first time, Courson used Kaatsu blood-flow restriction training to help a Georgia player recover from injuries. Japanese doctor Yoshiaki Sato invented Kaatsu training in 1966, but it wasnt widely used in the U.S. until recently. U.S. skier Bode Miller used Kaatsu training to help him recover from a bad leg injury.A thin, pressurized band was wrapped around Chubbs left leg to restrict the amount of blood flowing back to his heart. As a result, his injured leg was engorged with blood, filling his capillaries and muscle fibers while he worked out.When Courson initially explained how Kaatsu training worked, he told Chubb that Georgias trainers were going to push him until he reached muscle failure.Do you know what that means? Courson asked him.No, Chubb said.He had never experienced muscle failure, Courson said. Our biggest issue was slowing him down. Some people do rehab; he attacked rehab. I told him early on, Dont come in here and just do your time. Get everything out of it you possibly can. He worked so hard.On Jan. 26, Chubb started walking stadium steps at Sanford Stadium -- the entire lower bowl. The next time, he did it while wearing a 20-pound weight vest.Eleven days later, Chubb started straight-ahead running for the first time. With older brother Zachary watching, Chubb jogged 10 yards into the end zone at Sanford Stadium on Feb. 6.The start of the 2016 season was only seven months away, and Chubbs knee was still extremely stiff. Not only was he not yet sprinting or cutting like a running back but he was still jogging with a significant limp. But running 10 yards was still a big step in his recovery.We wanted him to visualize where he was going to be, Courson said. Running in the stadium was where he was working to get back to.In early February, Chubb started intensive proprioception drills to improve the stability and range of motion in his knee. While squatting, he balanced himself on a spherelike base while catching a medicine ball. While wearing hospital-type booties, he slid back and forth on a slick slide board, which hockey players use to build power and strength in their legs. He also worked on a cross-fit machine that downhill skiers use, as well as an ice skating trainer.By Feb. 23, Chubb was jumping again on his injured leg. He started by jumping on both legs, then worked his way to only one leg. Eventually, he jumped rope and even used a pogo stick, once Courson found one with a 300-pound weight limit.On March 1, Courson and his staff threw the kitchen sink at Chubb. He bounced back and forth between two bases that looked like medicine balls that were cut in half -- while catching footballs. Then he moved through a short obstacle course that required him to step over small hurdles and catch footballs while balancing on one leg.I dont know if we even have any guys on the team that could do that when theyre healthy, Courson said.Four days after Georgia opened its first spring practices under new coach Kirby Smart, Chubb started running change-of-direction drills for the first time. Chubb was held out of most team practices, other than taking handoffs and running short bursts in noncontact drills.When Courson sent Smart a three-second video of Chubb running a cones course, in which he was cutting and sprinting between the cones, Smart replied: Should he be doing that?I didnt know, Smart said. I really had no clue. Ron felt good about the surgery. The doctors thought it was a really good repair, but there was a lot of damage in there. I felt better after spring practice when I saw him taking handoffs and running straight ahead.During the spring, Courson also introduced another unorthodox exercise to Chubbs rehabilitation: mixed martial arts and taekwondo. For the next five months, Chubb worked out three times a week with twin brothers Cole and Sean Borders of Borders Black Belt Academy near Athens.Courson has worked out at the martial arts academy since the 1990s and thought the sport might break up the monotony of Chubbs rehabilitation. Initially, the brothers were hesitant to push him too hard. Chubb started by kicking heavy bags and paddle pads. He also did mat drills that focused on extending his leg and manipulating his knee.Once we started building up his strength and felt confident, we started using shields, and his body had to absorb a lot of the impact, Cole Borders said. When Ron stopped coming with him, it kind of let us know that he was doing fine and we could open it up a little bit.After a few weeks, Chubb graduated to tension kicks, a slow front kick that required him to hold his leg in the air, and push/pull kicks, which use resistance bands and wall anchors.?Eventually, getting hit by one of his kicks was like getting hit by a Mack truck, Sean Borders said.After spring practice ended, Chubb started working out with Georgias track team. A track star in high school, Chubb worked with the Bulldogs sprinters to improve his speed.Georgias coaches certainly werent worried about his overall strength. According to Courson, Chubb is still one of Georgias strongest players. He squatted more than 600 pounds (strength coaches wouldnt let him lift additional weight), and he had the longest broad jump and heaviest power clean lift of any UGA player.Nick takes his body so seriously that he was never going to be out of shape, Smart said. I think the guy was so aggressive in rehab that he came back stronger. He put on weight, and hes heavier. He seems just as fast.By May, Georgias trainers had cleared Chubb to participate in full strength and conditioning workouts without any restrictions. He was similarly cleared to participate in summer football workouts, such as voluntary 7-on-7 passing drills.There was only one significant test remaining -- to be tackled at full speed. He would have to wait another three months for it to happen during preseason camp.There was just a little bit of doubt, Chubb said. You really dont know. The last time I played in a game, my knee went the other way. You dont know if youre fine until youre falling and other people are falling on top of you.When the Bulldogs opened preseason camp Aug. 1, Chubb was fully cleared to participate in all activities. Smart was going to be cautious with his star tailback, though. He allowed Georgias defenders to hit and wrap up Chubb, but they werent supposed to take him to the ground.Finally, in Georgias first full-contact scrimmage, on Aug. 13, Chubb ran the ball in live action on limited carries. On his first attempt, he was tackled quickly. On his next carry, he broke through the line and an official inadvertently blew his whistle.Coach, Im all right, Chubb told Smart. Tell them not to blow the whistle. After Chubb was given unlimited carries in Georgias second scrimmage a week later, Smart was confident he would be ready for the season opener against the Tar Heels.Smart was determined to keep Chubbs availability as quiet as possible, especially after running back Sony Michel broke his arm in an ATV accident July 4.?We wanted to keep it in-house, Chubb said. We didnt want people to get excited and put more pressure on me. People expect so much with everything you do.Finally, on the Monday before the opener, Smart broke the news: Chubb was ready to play and wouldnt be on a pitch count against the Tar Heels. Chubb would soon find out that his new coach wasnt kidding.Less than a year after suffering a devastating knee injury, Chubb started at tailback when the Bulldogs opened the season against North Carolina. On the games first play from scrimmage, he took a handoff and ran for 6 yards. On the next play, he gained 13 yards and a first down. Just like that, Chubb was back.I never knew until the game actually started whether or not I was going to feel good, Chubb said.In Chubbs first game back, he ran 32 times for 222 yards with two touchdowns, averaging 6.9 yards per carry in a 33-24 victory. Smart said he and his coaches never discussed how many carries Chubb would get in the game; they only decided he wouldnt get three or four consecutive attempts.None of the runs he had in our scrimmages looked like the ones he had against North Carolina, Smart said. I think he was fresher. The thing you cant measure is how much better he makes everybody else around him. The fact he was able to play and be a captain really excited everyone else.Chubb didnt have as much success running behind Georgias revamped offensive line in his next two games. In a 26-24 victory over FCS foe Nicholls on Sept. 10, he ran 20 times for 80 yards with one touchdown. In last weeks 28-27 win at Missouri in the SEC opener, he ran 19 times for 63 yards.On Saturday, Chubb hopes to write the next chapter of his remarkable comeback story at Ole Miss.Its unreal, Smart said. The guy is not normal. His heart beats to a different drum than everybody else. People like him eat challenges. 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