Adobe/Twitter/@JasonHowell
The Carroll football program and its fans will have to wait until next year for the chance to see a talented transfer student display his abilities on the field for the Dragons varsity team.
With the UIL last week denying an appeal regarding a district committee’s finding that Riley Wormley’s transfer to Carroll ISD from Colleyville Heritage appeared to be for mainly athletic reasons, the incoming junior is ineligible to compete in varsity athletics for the 2023-24 school year.
Changing school districts for primarily athletic purposes is not allowed by Texas’ athletic and academic governing body. Wormley’s family claimed the transfer was for academic reasons, but District 4-6A officials and the UIL’s State Executive Committee concluded there was not enough evidence to show the switch in schools was not motivated mainly by athletics.
“I’m just disappointed for the kid,” Carroll head football coach Riley Dodge says. “I think more than anything, I’m disappointed for him, disappointed for the family. We thought (the ruling) was going to go a different way. We thought that the family had enough evidence to support (the transfer).”
This past spring, Wormley requested a transfer to Carroll ISD. Wormley’s family said the transfer stemmed from issues regarding how Colleyville Heritage handled his Section 504 accommodations in academics.
Wormley’s father is employed by the Carroll school district, serving as a resource officer at Durham Intermediate, which is one reason the transfer was allowed. But Grapevine-Colleyville ISD officials that spoke at the hearing said they believed that Heritage’s recent football coaching change played a role in Wormley’s decision to request a transfer.
Despite losing a year of varsity competition as a result of the ruling, Dodge said he is proud of the way the junior athlete is handling the situation.
“To get disappointing news from the (district executive committee), he was here at 5:30 the next morning in the weight room,” Dodge said. “He got disappointing news from the (state executive committee) but was one of the first ones in the building the next day. That says a lot about his character.”
Wormley’s arrival at Carroll was expected to provide a boost to a Carroll team that lost its most prolific rusher in school history to graduation. Owen Allen’s four-year career with the Dragons saw him set Carroll rushing records and finish 17th overall in Texas history in yards gained (7,600).
James Lehman totaled 516 yards rushing and scored six TDs as a junior in 2022.
Dodge’s offense still has its share of talented options at running back, including senior James Lehman — who served as Allen’s backup the past two seasons — and an impressive sophomore in Davis Penn. Lehman totaled 516 yards on the ground in 2022, scoring six rushing TDs.
Meanwhile, Wormley will get his reps this fall playing JV ball and is expected to excel while preparing for a return to varsity his senior season.
“We’re going to hand the ball off to him 500 times on the JV Green, and he’s probably going to score 500 touchdowns,” Dodge says. “Amazing attitude, great effort. I know he’s struggling and it hurts. He’s a competitor, an unbelievable kid. But he’s still here, and what he’s given us in the building and on the grass, you’d have no idea that he just got that type of news.
“Probably more than anything, what’s shone through since he’s gotten here and then with the disappointing news, is just his work ethic. When you’re that talented and you’ve got work ethic on top of it, the sky’s the limit.”