In the final three games of his collegiate career at Tennessee, Justin Worley will sport street clothes, not a helmet and pads.
Following Tuesday’s practice, head coach Butch Jones announced the senior quarterback will undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder and miss the rest of the season.
“I give Justin Worley all the credit in the world,” Jones said. “He tried anything and everything to rehabilitate his shoulder back, but he just could not get the velocity he needed.”
Worley started the first seven games under center for the Volunteers this season, completing 62.3 percent of his passes (157-of-252) for 1,579 yards and 12 touchdowns while throwing also throwing eight interceptions. He also rushed for three touchdowns on the season.
The injury, however, has not prevented the 6-foot-4, 220-pound signal caller from hanging around his teammates, as he was in attendance during the Vols’ 45-42 victory over South Carolina – his home state – in Columbia, as well as during Tuesday’s practice.
The injury likely ends Worley’s career as a Vol, in which he played in 24 games – starting in 17 of them – and threw for 3,556 yards and 23 touchdowns with a career completion percentage of 59 (329-of-558).
“He’s been very even-keeled,” Jones said. “Now he goes from Player Worley to Coach Worley. He’s very excited about the victory, and he’s a true team player and a great character young man, as we all know, and it’s very, very unfortunate.”
Smith’s surgery(?): Worley’s shoulder was not the only injury to be updated during Jones’ press conference at the conclusion of Tuesday’s practice.
On Sunday, multiple reports surfaced saying that sophomore wide receiver Josh Smith was scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery on his ankle, which he injured in the Vols’ Sept. 13 contest against Oklahoma.
Jones, however, clarified that report shortly after updating Worley’s status.
“Contrary to reports, he is not going through surgery right now,” Jones said. “He’s going through a full examination in the next couple of days to determine if he needs surgery. If that examination comes to play that it would help his progression, then he will have surgery.”
‘Like a wet noodle’: Before Joshua Dobbs’ insertion into UT’s offense, Curt Maggitt had plenty of opportunities to go against the sophomore signal caller when he lined up as the scout team quarterback.
In those matchups, the redshirt junior linebacker also got his chances to bring down Dobbs, but a lot of times he managed to slip away.
“He’s real elusive,” Maggitt said. “He’s like a wet noodle. He’s hard to get a hold of. I remember a few times on scout team he made some plays, and everybody was like ‘That ain’t supposed to happen over here.'”
Through two games under center for the Vols, Dobbs has showcased that noodle-like wiggle of his, rushing for 241 yards and three touchdowns on 43 carries.
As for the comparison, Dobbs takes it as a compliment.
“I guess it means I’m hard to get on the ground,” Dobbs said. “It’s elusiveness, and that just comes from all the offseason drills we do.”
Lightening the load: During Tuesday’s media viewing of practice, the list of players with regular minutes under their belt participating in practice was sparse.
After what Jones called a “grinding” six-game stretch, the second-year head coach decided to give most of the first-teamers – the only listed starter at practice while media was in attendance was freshman tight end Ethan Wolf – a light day at the office.
“I’m an older guy now so I’m not going to be like I want to go out and bang people at practice,” senior linebacker A.J. Johnson said. “I want to be smart and get my body right. I’m glad Coach Jones did that. He knows what he’s doing with the team and getting us fresh and ready to go for the game against Kentucky.”
