Dobbs was a solid practice player after all?

This is outright criminal to tank the Florida, Georgia, and Ole Miss when there was a serviceable QB available to perhaps change the outcome of winnable games.

— Jancek said quarterback Joshua Dobbs has carved up the defense in practice whenever the Vols have played against him whenever the Vols have been preparing for an athletic quarterback.
“Josh has been ripping us on defense for the last few weeks,” Janceck said. “We played Utah State, we played Arkansas State, we played Alabama now with an athletic quarterback. We do these things called service periods when the offense run plays for us and the defense runs certain plays for the offense. When we were facing these athletic quarterbacks, we were saying, ‘Man, we want Dobbs back there.’ I’ll tell you what, we were running some plays at our defense, we were running the jet sweep, and pulling linemen, going back the other way, he’s faking the jet, Dobbs is taking off and going the other way, and we were like, ‘We can’t tackle this guy.’ So to have an athletic quarterback is so challenging.”

 

No.

 

I think there's a discussion worth having, here.

Why didn't Dobbs get significant playing time prior to Worley's injury? These are the only reasons I've been able to come up with, but there may be more, and I don't know which is true - maybe none, maybe a combination of two or more:

1. Worley simply outperformed Dobbs in spring / summer practice, and continued to do so throughout the season.
2. Worley wasn't better than Dobbs in the spring / summer, and throughout the season, but the staff missed in that evaluation.
3. The staff wanted to redshirt Dobbs, and his performance in spring / summer / throughout the season was immaterial.
4. Worley was seen as the "safer" selection, and the staff missed in assigning too much importance to that.
5. The staff simply preferred upper-classmen, and mistakenly gave the nod to Worley, and kept it there.

But when you lose four (4) games (against Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida and Ole Miss) in a critical season for the program - and which may have been winnable, had a weapon like Dobbs not been sitting on the bench - I think it's an entirely valid question to ask.

In fact, you almost have to ask the question, if you want to understand this staff, and weigh their acumen, accordingly.

 

Would viewing this season as a throw-away season with the belief that they had a free pass from "Vol Nation" be included in #3 or is it an entirely seperate point? 3.1, perhaps?

 

If that's true, it's not only arrogant and self-serving, it's also incredibly, incredibly dumb. And by dumb, I mean out of touch with the reality of the job expectations and the kind of commitment to winning it takes to bring a program back in a league like the SEC. This aint the Big East.

 

I don't doubt his running has always been solid. I don't think that statement is about his throwing, however, and from what Dooz has been saying, he has been a turnover machine in that sense. What I want to believe, anyway.

Let's see how Butch and Co learn from this.

GBO

 

He's still very inaccurate and he has no sense of a "gas pedal" on his throws. He doesn't seem to know when to fire the bullet and when to float the ball. Now, maybe if he had been under center for the last five weeks these things wouldn't be so apparent right now. JMO.

 

People complaining about the accuracy of his passes, did you watch Worley?

Worley = statue standing in the backfield, inaccurate passer, turnover machine.

Dobbs = mobile QB, inaccurate passer, fewer turnovers.

Decision isn't even close. Coaches got it wrong.

 

Is he a perfect passer? No... but i think folks continuing to [itch bay] about his passing are starting to go overboard. Without his passing in the final 5 mins, we don't come close to getting to overtime...

That aside, I agree with jay's response and maybe there were a few other intangible variables in the mix too.

I agree they knew they had another year to flush down the toilet.. they knew the offensive line was weak and couldn't afford dobbs getting hurt because if it's bad enough, you're high and dry next year. Worley was serviceable so you leave him in there as long as he can take it (and hey, he's earned it after ddiapos). If he wins he wins, if not, BFD. You got guaranteed 4 yrs if not 5. Losing this year is a moot point ... it's NEXT year that it all comes together.. (so I think was butch's idea anyway). O-line much better, dobbs safer, stronger, etc. Worley "good enough" to get the team bowling? That was the goal this year, because then you still have a great 3 more yrs left of dobbs.

But now you're only gonna get 2 more years. Not how butch really wanted it, but the alternative is potentially losing dobbs to a permanent injury in a year that means jack shit before it begins, and then next year is year zero ... again... at QB.

I'm no longer buying the whole 'dobbs parents didn't want him playing' ..until I see the parents quoted and butch quoted. Makes no sense for the tail to wag the dog. And I like my conspiracy theory better.

Typing with thumbs, so sorry for the bad writing..

 

A QB like Dobbs is easier to find than a good Pro Style QB. If Jones cannot find another in 2 years then he should be fired.

He should apologize to the Seniors on this team.

 

.

 

Lol ... I'm not asking for Worley back by any means. Hopefully I've earned enough credit to not be looked at as an idiot. I'm saying let's not sign Dobbs up for the ****ing Heisman just yet. He is inaccurate as hell and it's not arguable.

 

I think the staff did a great job to the fans and the media to set this seasons expectations to being bowl eligibility. Worley had improved enough to get at least get 6 wins. I will give the staff the benefit of the doubt they preferred to have Dobbs three more years through 2017 with a plethora of talent and upperclassman. Injury changed the dynamics as the coaches probably felt they would go winless with Peterman at QB.

I recall in 1988 when the two most dominating players on the team were true freshmen which Majors chose to redshirt, Carl Pickens and Chuck Webb. Majors calls that his single greatest mistake as a coach.

 

Preach the gospel, brother VolDad.

 

I think the argument is not of his accuracy but his ability to make plays? Jones should at best platooned Dobbs and Worley in a two qb system to keep the opponents defense honest.
Would we lose against SC had Worley played? Yes.
Would we win against Florida had Dobbs played? Yes.
Would we win against Georgia had Dobbs played? Maybe, He was the better alternative to Peterman when Worley was hurt. Having Dobbs under center at the 1 yard line in its own territory could have provided that additional running element to get it self out of bad field position.
Would we win against Ole Miss had Dobbs played? Probably not. the game was close through halftime. 3 and outs by Worley simply ran the tenn defense into the ground in the second half.

 

[video=youtube;L0MK7qz13bU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0MK7qz13bU[/video]

 

This. If you're crowing about recruiting at a championship level, it doesn't fall in line with sitting your best QB to have him another year. If you can't find a replacement in 3 recruiting cycles, you suck and need to shut your mouth with the amazing recruiting bullshit.

 

VG can kiss my ass.

 

Let's not pretend we don't know what's going on here. Butch thought he could get to a bowl with Worley so what difference does a 6 win bowl game vs. a 7-8 win bowl game make to him vs. getting Dobbs an extra year. He won't/can't say that publicly but I think we all know what happened here.

 

Thank you.

If it was the difference between a 9 win team and a title contender, ok. But whether we spend the holidays in Birmingham or Nashville isn't that huge of a deal IMO.