For the second time in as many years, Tennessee will turn to a true freshman at quarterback in an attempt to jumpstart an impotent offense.
At his press conference Monday morning, head coach Derek Dooley announced that Justin Worley will start under center for the Vols against South Carolina. Worley will replace Matt Simms, who was benched last season in favor of Tyler Bray.
Worley replaced an ineffective Simms in the loss to Alabama this past weekend, but didn’t attempt a pass. In Simms’ two starts, he’s thrown for just 186 yards and led the offense to a meager 13 total points. In fairness to Simms, those two starts came against LSU and Alabama, but Dooley felt he needed to make the change.
“We’re not throwing and catching the way we need to and we’re not calling the game the way we want to,” Dooley said. “We just need to make this move.
“It’s not something that’s done on a whim. We have a lot of data to make a switch. We don’t have a lot of data on Justin.”
Worley will represent the Vols’ third starter at QB this season; Bray suffered a thumb injury earlier this month and was temporarily replaced by Simms. There’s a chance Bray could return for the regular-season finale
A three-star member of UT’s 2011 recruiting class out of Rock Hill, South Carolina, Worley was slated for a redshirt this season.
Better to do somthing, than nothing. Sims had already proven himself ineffective last year.
Article should also mention that Worley was the Gatorade National HS POY last year…not just “3 star”.
Either way, this had to be done. Simms has been really bad.
Dooley needs to do something to get the Vols moving. It’s like OSU starting Braxton Miller. If your more experienced QB isn’t doing the job you may as well shoot the dice and go with your QB of the future.
I think Dooley knew there was almost no hope of beating LSU/Bama. That is why he started Simms. If he wants to get to 6-6 and a bowl he needs something. He gets extra money for a bowl as does the school. This is why UNC was removed from the schedule… but now the Vols look so bad they may actually drop a game to Vandy and go 5-7 in regular season. This is why he burned Worley’s redshirt. Dooley will definitely be on the hot seat if the Vols lose to either Vanderbilt or Kentucky. If they lose to both look out! He will only be given one more season to turn things around.
Worley was very acquainted with Mr Clowney, in high school. Probably will see lots of him, Ingram and Taylor this Saturday.