At least for this coming Saturday, Joshua Dobbs, this is your football team. Reportedly.
Jimmy Hyams of WNML radio in Knoxville reported Tuesday after that quarterback Justin Worley will be out for “about four weeks” with torn ligaments in his right (throwing) thumb. Worley suffered the injury in the 35-point loss to Alabama last Saturday.
The Vols have yet to confirm the extent of the damage to Worley’s thumb and what if any time he’ll miss.
With the starter apparently out until late next month, it appears it will be up to Dobbs to guide UT’s offense for the foreseeable future as Hyams also reported he will get the start against Missouri. Eventually replacing Worley following the injury, the true freshman completed five-of-12 passes for 75 yards against the No. 1 team in the country. He also ran the ball three times for 19 yards.
It was the first statistical action of the season for Dobbs, a three-star member of the Vols’ 2013 recruiting class who was rated as the No. 20 pro-style quarterback in the country by Rivals.com.
The Worley injury would just add to a quarterback situation that’s been in a relative state of flux the past two months. Worley exited summer camp as the starter, but was replaced because of ineffective play by Nathan Peterman for the Sept. 21 game against Florida. Peterman suffered an injury in that game, a hand injury that was projected to keep him out for more than a month at the time.
Because of that injury, Peterman still won’t be healthy enough to play against Mizzou this weekend.