Senior Jared Worley was notified Apr. 26 that he will have an opportunity to play college football at the University of North Carolina.
Worley was scheduled to meet with the admissions office at UNC to discuss the transfer procedure he would have to follow to get admitted into UNC as a transfer student from Appalachian State. Just before the meeting, Worley received a phone call from Jason Tundryn, the Director of High School Relations for UNC football, notifying him that he had a roster spot. This meant Worley could go straight to UNC instead of having to transfer.
“It was a big weight off of my shoulders, and it’s been a wild process that worked out in the end,” Worley said. “I was very excited and relieved.”
Worley has been met with multiple obstacles throughout the recruiting process. The process began when he was contacted by Columbia University.
“Columbia came up at the end of my junior season, and by the end of my senior season, they definitely wanted me to come and play for them,” Worley said.
The first speed bump in Worley’s road to being recruited came when the majority of the coaching staff at Columbia resigned. This caused Worley to lose his scholarship to Columbia.
“My recruiting to Columbia was messed up after the coaches resigned,” Worley said. “Nobody told me about the resignations, so I was trying to contact coaches that did not even know who I was.”
After the Columbia crash, Worley had Cornell University and Bentley University looking at him.
“When I looked at Cornell and Bentley, they looked decent, but the cost turned me away,” Worley said.
Worley thought his football playing days were over because no other schools showed interest.
“I honestly thought it was over and I didn’t think anything else was going to happen,” Worley said. “Football was pretty much done for me except for the East-West game; it was sad.”
The plan for Worley was then to go to college just for education and bring closure to his football career.
“I was going to Appalachian State for a year and then transferring to Carolina for education,” Worley said.
Everything changed when Worley was informed that a coach from UNC was interested.
“Coach Tudryn vouched for me, “ Worley said.
Assistant football coach Brian Harrington went to a clinic in January and talked to Coach Tudryn. At this clinic, Harrington explained everything that happened to Worley during his recruiting process.
“After the clinic, I noticed Coach Tundryn started showing interest, and he wanted to find somewhere for me to be a walk on,” Worley said. “We started talking and going through the process.”
The waiting process was rough on Worley. The announcement was delayed many times, but he stayed patient.
“I just had to wait to find out if everything was going to work out; I was so anxious,” Worley said. “I was just playing a long waiting game.”
– By Jailen Leach
