college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
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
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine playe ...
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 Alabama Crimson Tide 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. After a 14–3 home loss to South Carolina the next week at Neyland Stadium, Worley recorded his first career victory with the Volunteers against Middle Tennessee. In the 24–0 home victory over the Blue Raiders, Worley threw his first career collegiate touchdown to wide receiver Da'Rick Rogers. Worley's last appearance in the 2011 season came in a 49–7 loss to #8 Arkansas at
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. On September 8, 2012, against
Georgia State Georgia state or ''variation'', may refer to:
Primarily
* Georgia State University ("State", "Georgia State"), a state university
* Georgia (U.S. state) ("Georgia state"), a state of the United States of America
Sports
* sports teams of Georgia St ...
, Worley came into the blowout 51–13 home victory to finish the game in relief of Bray. Against #1 Alabama, 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.
2013 season
Going into the 2013 season, Tennessee had a new head coach, Butch Jones. 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 football quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Pittsburgh following a stint with Tennessee and was selected by the Buffal ...
, Joshua Dobbs, and Riley Ferguson 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
Austin Peay (June 1, 1876 – October 2, 1927) was an American politician who served as the 35th governor of Tennessee from 1923 to 1927. He was the state's first governor since the Civil War to win three consecutive terms and the first to die ...
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 at home, he was benched after a poor performance in Tennessee's 59–14 loss at
Autzen Stadium
Autzen Stadium is an outdoor American football, football stadium in the Pacific Northwest, northwest United States, in Eugene, Oregon. Located north of the University of Oregon campus, it is the home field of the Oregon Ducks football, Oregon Du ...
to Oregon for Nathan Peterman. Peterman started the next game against the
Florida Gators
The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as t ...
at
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (in full Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium),Georgia, 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 South Carolina, 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 Alabama 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: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
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 in Norman, Oklahoma. Against #12 Georgia two weeks later, Worley had 264 yards passing and three touchdowns in the narrow 35–32 defeat at
Sanford Stadium
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 92,746-seat stadium is the tenth-largest stadium in the NCAA. Architecturally, the stadium is kn ...
Chattanooga
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
, Worley would play in the last game of his Tennessee career against #3 Ole Miss at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium. 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
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
. Before his injury, Worley's contributions played a role in helping Tennessee get in position to return to a bowl game.
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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...
' practice squad. His contract with the Bears was terminated on December 8.
Personal life
After his stint with the Chicago Bears, Worley returned to Rock Hill and was employed by the Rock Hill YMCA. Worley's responsibilities are overseeing the youth sports programs, sports clinics, and the fitness room.
Justin's parents are Peyton Worley and Angela Worley. He has one younger brother, Matthew Worley.