Justin Scott Worley (born November 20, 1992) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. Worley played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

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Early years

Worley attended Northwestern High School in

Rock Hill, South Carolina Rock Hill is the most populous city in York County, South Carolina, United States, and the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 5th-most populous city in the state. It is also the 4th-most populous city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, be ...

, where he played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

and was teammates with wide receiver

Cordarrelle Patterson Cordarrelle Patterson ( ; born March 17, 1991), nicknamed "Flash", is an American professional American football, football running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). As a versatile utility player, he is also ...

. As a sophomore, Worley helped lead Northwestern High School to the state championship game against town-rival South Pointe High School. Regarded as a three-star recruit by the Rivals.com recruiting network, Worley was listed as the 24th-ranked pro-style quarterback in his class. He was selected as the national high school

Gatorade Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys baseball, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls cross country, boys football, boys and girl ...

in 2010.

College career

Worley played backup to Tyler Bray during most of his first two seasons (2011–2012) at Tennessee and only started nine times before the 2013 season. Once the 2013 season started, Worley was named the starter for most of the time when he was healthy.

2011 season

On October 22, 2011, Worley was pushed into action against #2

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in relief of quarterback Matt Simms. Worley did not record any meaningful statistics except one rush for no yards in his first appearance for the Vols in the 37–6 defeat at

Bryant–Denny Stadium Saban Field at Bryant–Denny Stadium is an outdoor stadium in the Southeastern United States, on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. It is the home field of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the S ...

. After a 14–3 home loss to

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

the next week at

Neyland Stadium Neyland Stadium ( ) is a sports stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. It serves primarily as the home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team, but is also used to host large conventions and has been a site for several National Footba ...

, Worley recorded his first career victory with the Volunteers against

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the state's capital an ...

. In the 24–0 home victory over the Blue Raiders, Worley threw his first career collegiate touchdown to wide receiver

Da'Rick Rogers Da'Rick Jamal Rogers (born June 18, 1991) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Tennessee and Tennessee Tech, and signed with the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2013. Early life Rogers was born ...

. Worley's last appearance in the 2011 season came in a 49–7 loss to #8

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium is an American football stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas and serves as the home field of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks football team since its opening in 1938. The stadium was formerly known as Razor ...

. Worley had 208 yards passing and one interception in the defeat. Quarterback Tyler Bray returned from injury to finish out the 2011 season for the Volunteers.

2012 season

In the 2012 season, Worley did not appear much as he did in the 2011 season as Bray was the starting quarterback for all of the season's games. In the 2012 season, Cordarrelle Patterson, who Worley was teammates with in high school, joined the Volunteers after transferring from

Hutchinson Community College Hutchinson Community College (HutchCC or HCC) is a Public college, public community college in Hutchinson, Kansas. It serves nearly 5,000 credit students every semester. History The college was established in the spring of 1928 as Hutchinson Ju ...

. On September 8, 2012, against Georgia State, Worley came into the blowout 51–13 home victory to finish the game in relief of Bray. Against #1

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, Worley relieved Bray in the 44–13 defeat at home. In the penultimate game of Tennessee's 2012 season against Vanderbilt, Worley made his last appearance of the season after Bray got benched by head coach Derek Dooley, who would be fired after the game. Worley recorded 51 passing yards and interception in the 41–18 defeat at

Vanderbilt Stadium FirstBank Stadium (formerly Dudley Field and Vanderbilt Stadium) is a football stadium located in Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1922 as the first stadium in the South to be used exclusively for college football, it is the home of the Vander ...

2013 season

Going into the 2013 season, Tennessee had a new head coach,

Butch Jones Lyle Allen "Butch" Jones Jr. (born January 17, 1968) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Arkansas State University. Jones previously served as a special assistant to the head coach and offensive analyst at the Univ ...

. Bray left Tennessee to enter the

2013 NFL draft The 2013 NFL draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...

, and Worley was named the starting quarterback over

Nathan Peterman Nathan Michael Peterman (born May 4, 1994) is an American professional football quarterback. He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers following a stint with the Tennessee Volunteers and was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the fif ...

Joshua Dobbs Robert Joshua Dobbs (born January 26, 1995) is an American professional football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers, and was selected by the Pitt ...

, and

Riley Ferguson Riley Logan Ferguson (born January 19, 1995) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Memphis. Early years Ferguson attended David W. Butler High School in Matthews, North Carolina. He had 2,173 passing yards a ...

after training camp. During the 2013 season, he was able to achieve some success but his personal achievements did not lead to overall team success. In the season opener against Austin Peay at home, Worley had a solid outing with 104 passing yards and three touchdowns in the 45–0 win. However, after a 52–20 win over

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

at home, he was benched after a poor performance in Tennessee's 59–14 loss at

Autzen Stadium Autzen Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Located north of the University of Oregon campus, it is the home field of the Oregon Ducks of the Big Ten Conference. Opened in 1967, the stadium has undergone severa ...

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for Nathan Peterman. Peterman started the next game against the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (in full Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium),Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, where Tennessee lost a narrow game at home by a score of 34–31 in overtime. He had a season-high 215 passing yards in the defeat. He had a solid performance against in a home game against #11

, where he led Tennessee to its first win over a ranked team in several years with a game-changing pass to wide receiver Marquez North, which set up a Michael Palardy field goal as time expired to win the game by a score of 23–21. The next week, he sustained a season-ending thumb injury against #1

at Bryant–Denny Stadium. Freshman Joshua Dobbs relieved Worley in the 45–10 loss and was later named the starter for the remainder of the 2013 season. Under Worley and Dobbs, Tennessee would finish 5–7 and not reach bowl eligibility, which was the third consecutive season that the Vols missed a bowl game.

2014 season

In 2014, Worley returned from his thumb injury was named the starting quarterback for the Vols for his senior season. The task was tough for Worley as Tennessee had to replace the entire offensive line from the previous season. He started in seven games in his senior season with the Volunteers. He started the season opener at home against Utah State. In the 38–7 victory, he had 273 passing yards and three touchdowns. Worley would have solid outings over the next two weeks but with very different results. Against Arkansas State, Worley had 247 passing yards and two touchdowns in the 34–19 home victory. Against #4

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

the following week, Worley had 201 yards passing and a touchdown, but suffered through five sacks, in the 34–10 defeat at

Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, also known as Owen Field or The Palace on the Prairie, is the football stadium on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. It serves as the home of the Oklahoma Sooners football team ...

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, 3rd most populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,026 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the most populous city and the county seat of Clevel ...

. Against #12

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two weeks later, Worley had 264 yards passing and three touchdowns in the narrow 35–32 defeat at

Sanford Stadium Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium is the on-campus playing venue for football at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States (also known as UGA). The 93,033-seat stadium is the ninth-largest American football stadium in the NCAA ...

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

. After a narrow 10–9 home loss to

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and a 45–10 victory over

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

, Worley would play in the last game of his Tennessee career against #3

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

Vaught–Hemingway Stadium Vaught–Hemingway Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium located in University, Mississippi, United States (although it has an Oxford address). The stadium serves as the home for the University of Mississippi Rebels college football team. ...

. Worley was injured in the 34–3 loss and was relieved by Nathan Peterman. Worley would have season-ending shoulder surgery from the injury he sustained in the Ole Miss game. His season totals were 1,579 passing yards, 12 touchdowns, eight interceptions, 62.3% completion percentage, and was notably sacked 29 times, of which some blame was given to the inexperience of Tennessee's young offensive line in the 2014 season. Tennessee finished the season with a 7–6 record with Peterman and Joshua Dobbs at quarterback. The team became bowl eligible for the first time since

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. Before his injury, Worley's contributions played a role in helping Tennessee get in position to return to a

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

Statistics

Professional career

On November 24, 2015, Worley was signed as an undrafted free agent to the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

' practice squad. His contract with the Bears was terminated on December 8, 2015.

Personal life

After his stint with the Chicago Bears in 2015, Worley returned to Rock Hill, where he would work with the Rock Hill

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

. Worley's responsibilities include overseeing the youth sports programs, sports clinics, and the fitness room.

References

External links

Collegiate statistics
at

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey ...

Tennessee Volunteers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worley, Justin 1992 births Living people Players of American football from Rock Hill, South Carolina American football quarterbacks Tennessee Volunteers football players Chicago Bears players