Tennessee football’s top 10 injury replacements in school history

Joshua Dobbs is unique on this list in that he replaced Justin Worley two years in a row. As a freshman in Butch Jones’ first season, 2013, Dobbs came in after Worley suffered a season-ending injury at the Alabama Crimson Tide. Tennessee football was 4-4 after that loss, and Dobbs simply wasn’t ready, so UT lost three more games and missed a bowl, finishing 5-7.

The next year, Worley got the start again, and he suffered another season-ending injury in a 27-3 loss to the Ole Miss Rebels. Nathan Peterman got the start the next week and was awful, so Dobbs came in and turned a 27-0 deficit into a 34-20 loss.

At 3-5, Dobbs came alive the next week, as he became the starter for good at the South Carolina Gamecocks and wouldn’t lose that role until he graduated. In that game, Dobbs led a 14-point comeback with under three minutes to go and had 300 total yards and five total touchdowns in an overtime win. He turned the Vols around and got them to their first bowl since 2010.

After a TaxSlayer Bowl win, Dobbs helped the Vols have their first winning record since 2009. The next two years remain the only two years since Phillip Fulmer’s firing that Rocky Top has finished with nine or more wins and in the top 25. Dobbs himself had the second most productive season for a quarterback in UT history in 2016, just behind Peyton Manning in 1997.