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.