THE SCOOP
Tennessee quarterback Justin Worley is out indefinitely after undergoing surgery on his right thumb, which means freshman Joshua Dobbs of Alpharetta will get his first collegiate start.
Volunteers coach Butch Jones announced the severity of Worley’s injury and said he believes Worley has a torn ligament. Knoxville radio station WNML reported earlier Tuesday that Worley would miss about four weeks.
Freshman Riley Ferguson is listed as the second-team quarterback. Redshirt freshman Nathan Peterman practiced Tuesday, but his status for the Missouri game remains uncertain. Peterman has missed four games since undergoing surgery on his right hand after a 31-17 loss at Florida on Sept. 19.
“I’m comfortable with both (Dobbs and Ferguson),” Jones said. “They both have done a great job, but I think we’re going to lean toward the game experience that Josh was able to garner in the Alabama game.”
Tennessee scored all 10 of its points against Alabama after Dobbs entered the game.
The Vols hope that Dobbs’ stellar academic background shows he can be a quick study on the field. Dobbs won the Watkins Award given annually by the National Alliance of African-American Athletes to a high school senior who combines academic and athletic excellence.
“We’ve got confidence in him,” sophomore wide receiver Alton “Pig” Howard said.
INJURY UPDATE
Florida left tackle D.J. Humphries will miss Saturday’s game against Georgia and could be sidelined four weeks with a knee injury. Coach Will Muschamp said Wednesday that Humphries sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee in practice Monday. He sustained the same injury in his left knee during fall practice. Tyler Moore will start at left tackle against Georgia, and junior college transfer Trenton Brown will start at right tackle. Moore was beaten repeatedly in Florida’s past two games, both losses.
Also quarterback Tyler Murphy returned to practice this week after missing nearly two weeks because of a sprained shoulder. He’s thrown very few passes in that time and offensive coordinator Brent Pease said “his arm — his accuracy was off a little bit.”
TWITTER? SABAN?
If there was ever any doubt, Alabama coach Nick Saban put to rest any potential of him ever joining Twitter.
“I’ve never considered joining Twitter, nor do I know why anybody would,” Saban said.
But he said that neither he nor the team bans players from social media, but the school does monitor.
“We have a rule that you’re really not supposed to put any information out about our team, things that are internal to our family,” Saban said. “And we don’t want any guy here not to create positive value in himself and his image with anything he might put on social media.”
But Crimson Tide linebacker C.J. Mosley isn’t sold on Saban not having a Twitter account, possibly under another name.
“He claims he don’t have one, but he probably does,” Mosley said, jokingly.
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