KNOXVILLE—As I opined yesterday, Vol freshman QB Josh Dobbs is expected to will make his first career start at Missouri this weekend. Justin Worley’s thumb injury will sideline him for several weeks; he could miss as many as four weeks as he recovers from surgery to repair torn ligaments in his thumb—a timetable that would effectively keep Worley out until bowl season. Dobbs is the healthiest option at QB this week as Nathan Peterman is not yet back from the thumb injury he suffered against Florida and freshman QB Riley Ferguson, who had been No. 2 on the depth chart throughout much of the season, is dealing with a lower leg injury.

Butch Jones has tried to downplay the severity of Worley’s thumb injury since last week’s press conference when he said “He [Worley] just banged his hand a little bit, he should be good to go” for the Alabama game. Worley had his thumb wrapped all week and struggled to grip the football in practice. He didn’t have much zip on the football during an ineffective first half at Alabama and was pulled in the second half in favor of Josh Dobbs.

Jones had this to say about the status of Worley yesterday, “Could he have gone in at the time? Yes. But we wanted to make sure that we tried to see what it was and not doing anything to further injury itself. So there were a lot of things and a lot of thought process that went behind that. Right now he is day-to-day and we will know more about where he is at later on down the road.”

Several sources close to the team told me Worley informed Jones that he couldn’t play in the second half against Alabama, so today’s news that he could miss significant time is not a surprise. His injury does put the Vols in a tough spot if Dobbs gets injured. Ferguson is the only other available quarterback and he was moving gingerly both during practice last week and during pre-game warmups in Tuscaloosa. He was unable to effectively plant on his injured leg over the weekend, and though Jones said he’s in a walking boot “as a precaution,” it’s clear his injury is worse than the staff is letting on. He’s tough enough to play if called upon, but clearly not 100%.

That leaves Jones with Dobbs as the only truly healthy option at QB this weekend. Vol fans have been clamoring to see the former 4-star prospect in action since he chose the Vols on National Signing Day and his second half performance against Alabama left many wanting to see him play this weekend regardless as to the extent of Worley’s thumb injury (he garnered close to 90% of the vote in our fan poll).  Though his finals numbers weren’t eye-popping (5-12 for 75 yards, three carries for 19 yards), he didn’t turn the ball over, was accurate with the football (Vol WRs were responsible for multiple second half drops which hurt his final numbers), and his passes had more zip to them than we’ve seen from a Vol QB this season.

Perhaps more impressive, he led the Vols on two scoring drives and was composed in a hostile environment against one of the best defenses in the nation. I gave him a “B” for his performance in this week’s Vol report card and thought he played well enough to warrant more playing time. He brings another dimension to the offense with his ability to make things happen with his legs and gives the Vols an adept downfield passer. The playbook won’t be limited with him at the helm and we could see a more wide-open offensive game plan than we’ve seen this season.

Jones had this to say about Dobbs yesterday, “He brings another element in terms of running. If he is our quarterback you may see a little more quarterback runs. He is a 4.0 student, I think he has a photographic memory, he is extremely bright, he is competitive, so we don’t have to scale down the playbook one bit with him.”

It doesn’t get much easier for Dobbs this weekend, though, as Missouri leads the SEC in both sacks and interceptions. Tennessee hasn’t won an SEC road game since 2010 and hasn’t beaten a ranked SEC team on the road since 2006. If those streaks end this weekend, Dobbs will have to be every bit as composed as he was in Tuscaloosa and spark a Tennessee offense which hasn’t out-gained an SEC opponent this season.