Tennessee quarterback Justin Worley (14) throws against Oklahoma in their game in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014.NORMAN, Okla. - No player will welcome Tennessee's upcoming open date more than Justin Worley.
The senior quarterback surely will need the extra days of rest to recover from the hammering he took at Oklahoma on Saturday night.
Worley was sacked five times and knocked around on seemingly every play as Tennessee fell 34-10 to the fourth-ranked Sooners on the road, but he earned further respect from his coaches and teammates after continuing to pick himself off the ground in trying to rally the Volunteers.
"I don't want to be known as somebody that's going to walk off the field after getting hit a few times," he said after completing 21 of 44 passes for 201 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions and a fumble.
"I'm a tough guy, I'm a tough quarterback, and my job is to throw the football or hand the ball off. If I'm getting hit, I've just got to deal with it."
And as Tennessee feared heading into the game, Worley dealt with constant harassment from Oklahoma, whether it was disruptive force Eric Striker off the edge, defensive linemen Chuka Ndulue or Jordan Phillips coming free or Quentin Hayes blitzing from his safety spot.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Worley was hurried, knocked down or sacked on 40 percent of his dropbacks.
"I'll definitely be sore tomorrow, I'm sure," he said. "Yeah, I got hit a lot. Was able to get back up, though, and keep fighting. Our offensive line did a good job. They knew they had a tough test ahead of them with the size of those guys and their scheme that they've put together, but I'm proud of them. They did a good job.
"I knew I was going to be getting hit. I knew I just had to sit in there. Our receivers were still getting open, and it was my job to deliver the football."
It was up to Tennessee's young offensive line, featuring two true freshmen in right guard Jashon Robertson and right tackle Coleman Thomas, to protect him, and the Vols often kept a tight end in pass protection.
While the Vols may not face a better defensive front in the SEC this season, it's going to be tough for Tennessee to move the ball and put up points if can't protect Worley better than it did against Oklahoma.
"I am disappointed. I don't want to get Justin hit that many times," left tackle Kyler Kerbyson said. "We can't keep having these kind of games and have him play the whole season if he keeps getting hit. Justin prides himself on being a tough quarterback, which I love about him, but a lot of the times in our protection we were one guy away.
"Just one guy got beat to where it messed up the whole thing, and we could have had a lot more big plays if we would've just held our own for a little bit longer."
On a few occasions, Worley showed good pocket awareness by moving away from pressure and finding a receiver, as he did on the 40-yard touchdown pass to Josh Smith in the second quarter.
More often than not, though, Tennessee's quarterback wasn't given enough time to go through his progressions.
The Sooners constantly brought blitzes from the edge. Hayes forced a fumble on the Vols' second possession after coming free from Worley's blindside, and Ndulue notched two of Oklahoma's sacks.
In the third quarter, Charles Tapper came free on a stunt and pulled Worley down by his facemask trying to get the sack.
"I made sure I saw him after the game," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "He is a really good quarterback. He throws it well and really showed a lot of toughness. I think he is going to have a really good year."
Though his first interception was a 50-50 ball into the end zone that went through intended receiver Jason Croom's hands, Worley admitted he forced a throw into traffic on his second pick, and linebacker Jordan Evans tipped the pass intended for Marquez North into the hands of Julian Wilson, who ran back 100 yards.
Worley said he couldn't think of another instance where he was hit as much as he was Saturday, but the toughness he showed wasn't lost on Tennessee coach Butch Jones.
"Justin's been resilient all year. Very, very proud of him," Jones said. "There isn't anyone that feels worse than he does. There's a couple of throws he'd like to have back, but he also stood in the pocket, made some big plays for us and I'm proud of him. He'll continue to progress and get better, but I thought he was gutsy. I thought it was gritty.
"He wanted the ball in his hands, and that's the great thing. I looked in his eye after that [first interception], and he wanted to throw the football. He wanted the ball, and that showed me a lot."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.