Snapped Dragons/S. Johnson
Riley Wormley roams the varsity sidelines while he awaits the appeal to his UIL ruling.
Thanks to a rare overturn of a previous ruling, the UIL state committee has officially granted varsity eligibility to Riley Wormley, a talented transfer student from Colleyville Heritage. The new ruling made earlier this week paves the way for CISD to finalize Wormley’s availability for games starting as soon as the Week Six matchup against Keller, slated for Thursday, Oct. 5.
The former UIL ruling from Aug. 7 denied an appeal regarding a district committee’s finding that Riley Wormley’s transfer to Carroll ISD appeared to be for mainly athletic reasons. Due to the ruling, the incoming junior had been ineligible to compete in varsity athletics for the first five games of the 2023 season.
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 at the time, 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.
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. Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, districts are required to provide students with an education free from discrimination of their disabilities.
Although his parents reside in Euless, Wormley’s father serves as a resource officer at Durham Intermediate, which is one reason why the transfer was allowed.
Despite losing time from varsity competition as a result of the ruling, Dodge said he is proud of the way the junior running back, who holds offers from schools like Oklahoma, TCU and Texas, has been 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 says. “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.”
Snapped Dragons/S. Johnson
Davis Penn leads the Dragon's rushing attack averaging 134 yards per game.
Albeit late, Wormley’s eventual time at Dragon Stadium is expected to provide a serious boost to a Carroll team that has had considerable success rushing the ball in recent weeks. Through five games, the Dragons have rushed for 21 touchdowns and an average of 251 yards per game. Leading the way has been upstart sophomore Davis Penn, who has already accounted for 670 of the team’s 1,255 yards while adding nine touchdowns.
It's only a matter of time before Wormley takes the field for the varsity. In the meantime, he's been getting his reps this fall playing JV ball.
“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 said after the initial ruling back in August. “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.”
Dragon Nation will be ready to see what he can do.